


Home Is Where The Heart Is

by MizUnderstood2136



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types
Genre: Emotional, F/M, Fluff and Smut, Smut, Smutty Literature
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-11
Updated: 2018-01-28
Packaged: 2018-11-30 23:11:23
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 27,083
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11473632
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MizUnderstood2136/pseuds/MizUnderstood2136
Summary: Naeleri Theirin, wife of Alistair, Hero of Ferelden, has just gotten back from a 3 month mission to find the cure for the calling/blight. During her time away, Alistair had fallen into the fade with the Inquisitor, and made it back alive.Nae has news for Alistair, several kinds in fact.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So this was written as an answer to a dare of sorts.. My friend found a pic of Steve Valentine going on about how he reads the smutty Alistair fan fiction and I made snarky remarks about how I should do it. Write some. Because I haven't done an Alistair story yet. And then she goaded me and said I should then send it to him.  
> Dunno if I'll go that far but I wrote it. So for the moment it's a 1-shot, but if it gets enough attention I'll come back to it.  
> Enjoy!

Alistair laid sleeping on the bed. His sandy brown hair a curly mess, his face scruffy. Barely covered by a sheet. I stood by the door, suppressing the urge to jump him. Maker, how I'd missed him. It had been 3 months since I'd laid eyes on him last. 3 long, gruelling months. Since I'd seen him last I had ventured into the deep roads twice, found 3 abandoned Warden strongholds, read countless tomes and documents. And he had gone into the fade and made it out alive. I swiped a tear from my face. I was so tired of having to be strong. And alone.

I pressed my mouth into my hand, stifling my crying. I'd dreamed of him almost every night. When I'd been able to sleep. I ran a hand through my hair, trying to collect myself. 

My name is Naeleri Theirin, Alistair’s wife. Warden Commander of Ferelden, Arlessa of Amaranthine. Hero.. Hero of Ferelden. I have traipsed across the continent more times than I can count. Above and below ground. In the last year, we had begun a mad quest to cure the calling. I now possessed new clues. But I had to come home.. needed to see him. 

Make sure he was whole. 

Maybe mend this ache that had taken up residence in my chest. I silently began to undress, setting my armor on the floor gently. When I was naked, I untied my hair, still black and soft, and let it fall down my back. I climbed onto the bed, laid next to him. 

I drew my finger down his cheek, watched his eyelids flutter open. He blinked. Blinked twice. Then his eyes widened. A smile broke his face, and he yawned, “Best dream ever,” he said before rolling over and flopping an arm onto me. When his arm touched me, he realized I wasn't a dream and his eyes opened fully this time. 

“Maker’s breath, it  _ is _ you!” he exclaimed, his face lighting up. He grasped my face and kissed me, before I could even speak. He pulled back after a minute, gazed down at me. “I've missed you, love. More than I can possibly put into words,” he whispered. I smiled up at him. “And I missed you, husband.” 

“You know, it never gets old hearing you say that.  _ Husband _ . It's like…” and I covered his mouth.

“No cheese comparisons when I'm laying here with you for the first time in months, naked and willing, Alistair.” 

He kissed my fingers. “Oh, naked you say? I hadn't even noticed. Your beautiful face captured all my attention,” he rolled on top of me, his body still hard and well muscled after all these years. “As luck would have it, I too, happen to be naked. It seems to be fate, does it not?” he murmured, his leg slipping between mine. I hugged him then, my arms wrapping around him, my face pressed to his neck. He hugged me back, his face buried in my hair. 

“3 months was far too long,” he whispered hoarsely. I nodded, “Far, far too long.” 

He brought his mouth to mine, his lips lingering there. Tongue dancing with mine, his hands touching me every which way. A squeeze here, a rub there. I used my hips to roll him back onto the bed, and moved to straddle him. He arched an eyebrow at me, and I just smiled. I leaned down and kissed him lightly, then moved my lips to his jaw, down his neck, my hands holding his wrists on the bed. I nipped the skin over his pulse, ran my tongue over his collarbone, place a kiss in the hollow of his chest. Pressed my forehead to his heart, feeling its steady fast beat. He moved his hands, entwining his fingers with mine. I moved down his body more, kissing my way down his stomach, the muscles twitching under my mouth. I could feel him, hard under the sheet he was covered with, pressed against my chest. I took back my right hand, and slid the sheet off of him, my eyes feasting on him. 

He looked down at me, and I stared back. My hand wrapped around his cock, and he stopped breathing. I stroked him once.. Then twice. His head fell back onto the bed and he covered his face with his arm. I smiled, ever the bashful one. Then I licked him. Starting at the base of his cock, I weaved a long, slow lick towards the tip, causing him to shake. When I sucked him into my mouth, his hips bucked beneath me, thrusting him deeper into my mouth. 

Ah, how I'd missed the taste of him. I gripped him with my hand again, then began to follow my mouth as I bobbed my head, down, up, and back again. I twisted my hand as I moved, the wetness from my tongue making the stroking effortless. He groaned when I nearly swallowed him, then slowly sucked as I pulled my mouth away. When I released him, his cock stood tall, hard and glistening, nestled among the blonde hair that trailed down his stomach. I placed a kiss on the tip of it, and he growled at me. I looked at him and he used the opportunity to pull me up, then he rolled me back onto the bed. “My turn,” he said softly, kissing me. He ran his hands down my arms, to my hands, then drew them above our heads. He wrapped my fingers around the bars in the headboard of the bed. He pulled his mouth from mine, “Leave those there,  _ wife _ ,” he commanded. I nodded, and he smiled that innocent smile that we both knew by now was nowhere near actual innocence. 

He began by kissing my neck, my shoulder.. Just past that ticklish part of my armpit, he nuzzled the side of my left breast, before taking it in his mouth, scraping his teeth gently across my nipple. He sucked it deeply into his mouth, before releasing it to lavish attention on the other. His hand brought my right breast to his mouth, and he swirled his tongue all around before flicking my nipple softly with it. He moved on.. Kissing between them, then below them. Then he pressed his face to my stomach, his hands on my sides. He inhaled and sighed. Looked up at me. 

“You're even more beautiful now than you were when you left, Nae. How do you do that?” 

I shrugged. “Distance and time? I don't know..” 

“Neither do I. But there you have it.” I just nodded. I never really knew what to say when he waxed poetic about my looks. He ran his hands down my legs, effectively distracting me. He parted them, kneeling between. His hands ran up the inside of my thighs, soft little touches that caused goosebumps to race across my skin. 

His fingers reached my core, softly spreading my lower lips, his fingers gentle. Then his tongue was there, a long swipe, tasting me. Delving inside me, then back out to explore.. Sucking and nipping, his tongue soothing the sting. He swirled his tongue around my clit, before sucking it gently between his lips. I moaned, my hands gripping the headboard, my chest heaving. Then he slid a finger.. No, two fingers, inside me. His tongue never stopped moving, driving me further and further. He was relentless, curling his fingers inside me, rubbing me both inside and out. His tongue helped things along, and soon after I was writhing and begging him. 

Then he relented, sucking my clit into his mouth, rubbing it just right, sending me over. I cried out, pressing my pelvis into his hand. Throbbing and pulsing around him, trembling and unable to breathe. He slid back up my body, settling himself on top of me. I caressed his face, ran my fingers through his hair. Stared at him like it was the first time. He smiled down at me.    
“Maker’s breath, but you’re beautiful,” he said, very reminiscent of the first time he had said it. All that time ago. And he still made my heart race when he said it. Because.. The reverence in his tone told me he meant it every bit as much now as he did then. I smiled up at him, so beyond happy to be back in his arms. 

He furrowed his brow, “You don’t regret.. Regret giving up the throne do you?” he asked me. Out of nowhere.    
I shook my head. “You didn’t want that, and I only wanted it if you did.. To be with you. We’ve talked about this. Why are you asking again?”

“Because I worry I could have given you more as King. Less travel. Less worry.” 

“I am where I want to be. In your arms. You, Alistair, are home. Now. Make love to me. Because I have a great need for you,” I said with a smile, pulling his face back to mine, wiping any doubt of his away. He sighed and poured himself into the kiss, his hands running down my body to squeeze my butt before shifting my legs to wrap around him. Never breaking the kiss, he thrust his hips and slid inside me. I moaned into his mouth, my hands gripping his neck. His hands held my hips as he started to move. Every thrust a little faster, a little more desperate. He pulled his mouth from mine, pressed his forehead against mine, concentration etched into his face.   
He would grind against me between every thrust, the friction stealing my breath. Hot and so deep, every time. “Maker.. I can’t hold on,” he whispered, straining to stay with me. I ran my hands down his chest, around his sides, gripped his butt, “Don’t hold on,” was all I said. He tried to shake his head, and all I did was nod, shifting my hips beneath him, encouraging him. He thrust faster, mindlessly, and threw his head back when he came, a guttural cry escaping him, as he continued to grind his hips against me. 

After a minute, of him throbbing and pulsing inside me, he reached between us, “Your turn, love.” With that, he unerringly found my clit, still so sensitive from his mouth, and with a few thrusts of his hips, his cock still mostly hard inside me, and his fingers working their circular magic.. He had me writhing again within seconds. I gripped his arms, as he pushed me over the edge, watching me as I fell to pieces below him. I cried out, arching my neck, shaking and clenching. My ears were ringing, and my heart racing, and still he moved, rubbed, dragging it out. I moaned with each rub, each thrust, my muscles clutching at his cock, over and over. Finally he stopped moving, stopped rubbing, held me close as I tried to breathe. He flopped onto the bed next to me, his feet still tangled with mine.    
“And that, my love, is how you greet your wife properly,” he said, his tone breathy. I pretended to consider his words.    
“I think that the greeting was a bit.. Small. I will need a better one later, just to be sure.” 

He laughed, brushing his hand through his hair. “If that is what my lady so desires, then so be it.”

A bit later, after we had cleaned up, and were laying back in the bed, I curled up against his side. My head on his shoulder, my leg in between his, and his arm holding me close, I took a breath and just enjoyed the moment. 

“Nae?” he said quietly.    
“Mmm?”

“I love you.”

“I love you more.”

He chuckled, and with that I closed my eyes, and drifted off to sleep in the arms of my husband, right where I belonged. 

  
  


The next morning, I awoke alone, but I could smell coffee. Really delicious smelling coffee. I stretched on the bed and sat up, looking for it. Alistair sat at the table, in just his pants, hair all messy, and his face covered in the sandy brown fuzz we both knew I love. He smiled when he saw me sit up. “Ah there you are. I brought you coffee. And some sort of breakfast pastry thing. There may even be chocolate on the tray.” He got up and walked over to the bed, kissed me gently. “I slept better last night than I have in.. almost 90 days. I’ve been counting.”   
I laughed. “Me too. Nothing beats sleeping next to you, snores and all.”   
“I’ll have you know, I do not snore.”    
I snorted.    
He stuck his tongue out. I just raised my eyebrow and he grinned. “Are you hungry?” he asked. I nodded. I took the sheet off the bed, wrapped it around me, and followed him back to the table. He sat down, and I sat on him, across his lap. I grabbed the full mug of coffee and sniffed it.    
“This stuff right here? Liquid heaven. Almost better than sex,” I stated, my face all sort of serious.    
“Better than sex? Never! Especially not my sex. My sex is far superior to coffee.” He sounded put out by my admission. I sipped the coffee, both hands on the cup, allowing the sheet to slip free. His eyes watched the sheet slowly fall, barely concealing my very naked self. He took a breath and proceeded to look at the ceiling.    
“I have things to do this morning, woman. Stop this.. Wanton display of nudity.”   
I pouted. “We both know you don’t mean that, Alistair.”

“But.. I do. I’m supposed to.” He swallowed. 

I set the cup down, and turned to face him a bit more, allowing the sheet to fall completely. I rubbed my hands down his chest. “What was that about work?” He tried to look stern.    
“Look, you,” and I interrupted him, my mouth kissing his jaw. “Stop that. You are doing that on purpose,” he said accusingly, his eyes trying not to fall below my face. I stood up, and dropped the sheet on the floor, straddled his lap on the chair. I grabbed his hands, and brought them up to my chest, his palms hot and rough. His head fell back.    
“You fight so dirty,” he whispered, and though it sounded like an accusation, his hands taking over their mission to caress and play belied the words. I kissed his neck, scraped my teeth over the sensitive skin just below his ear. He shivered beneath me, his resolve melting away. I slid my hands down his chest again, rubbing my hands on the front of his pants. “I don’t think you want to work right now, my love,” I said with a whisper. He looked at me, and managed a shrug. 

I untied his pants, freeing his cock. “Look what I found,” I said, delight filling me. He groaned when I began to stroke him, my hand tight around his cock. His hands fell away from me, one moving to rub his face, the other grasping my hand, and stroking it with me. “Oh, look, you seem to agree with my ‘No work’ proclamation,” I murmured. I reached for his face with my other hand, drawing his mouth to mine. His tongue dove into my mouth, and his free hand reached between us, finding me wet and wanting. He groaned when he slipped a finger inside me, me shifting my hips back and forth, stroking him as I moved.    
After a few minutes, leisurely kissing changed to desperate, and his hands moved to grip my hips, and he helped me move forward, and he slid me down onto his cock. I moaned as he filled me and he pressed a shaky kiss to my neck. He started to move me, lifting me and sliding me back down. His hips raising to meet me, his pelvis rubbing against mine. And I rode him, for all I was worth. His head fell back, and I shifted my hips, taking him deeper with each thrust. He pulled me against his chest, lifting his pelvis, thrusting faster. My arms snaked around his neck, my mouth against his ear. Every breath wringing a sound from him.

My own head fell back as I saw stars. I groaned when I came, grinding myself against him, drawing his own release. He gripped my hips tightly, coming deep inside me, where the throbbing and clenching pulled him deeper. He gave this low husky growl, sending a shiver down my spine. I collapsed against his chest, my face in the crook of his neck. I started to laugh, and he just shook his head at me.    
“You haven’t even been home a day, and you are already causing trouble.”

I nodded. Lifted my head and looked at him. “You like my trouble. My trouble brings you smiles and orgasms. Lots of them.” 

“Oh, I love your trouble. Every delectable inch of it.” He squeezed my butt to emphasize his point. Then he scooped an arm around me, and one under my butt and stood up, carrying me to the bed. He gently laid me down, and pulled out of me. I gave a pout and he just shook his head again. Went to the dresser for a cloth, came back to the bed and handed it to me, fixing his pants while I did my thing. When he went to the closet, I rolled onto my stomach, propped my head on my hands and watched him. 

“You're watching me again aren't you?” he said. 

“I have no idea to what you refer…”

He poked his head out. “You could join me,” he said with an eyebrow wiggle. 

I laughed. “No I can't. If I come in there we can add ‘closet sex’ to things that made you late.” 

“Well it was a boring list anyways. Come on, you know you want to…” 

I groaned and pressed my face into the bed. And I didn't move. It took the iron will I was known for to accomplish it but I stayed where I was. I heard him emerge a few minutes later, looked up and he stood there in his Grey Warden armor, all sexy and delectable. 

“You should get dressed and come with me. The Warden Commander is home.” 

I shook my head. “I'll wait for you here. I need to go through my notes. After your meeting I want to talk to you. Alone. And not naked. Because naked leads to distracting things. Especially your naked.”

“Oh, is my naked special?” he asked me with a grin. 

“Your naked is distracting and stop that,” I said as he approached the bed. He knelt in front of me, put his hands in my hair. He kissed me, sweet and tender. 

“You know you love me.” 

I smirked. “Would I have put up with your love of cheese for so long if I didn't?” 

“I don't know. Women are a mystery.” 

I pushed him down onto the floor, where he sat laughing. He got up, still chuckling, brushed off his pants and left whistling. I sighed when he closed the door. Got up and went to the closet for a robe, and there on the wall were all the letters I had sent him since I left. I grabbed one of his shirts instead of a robe, slipping it over my head and pulling it to my face to smell it. He always smelled.. Like a clean river deep in the forest. I shook my head and went to my pack by the door. I fished out the book and papers I had brought with me. Stolen them really. Though the people I had stolen them from did not know their significance. I sat down at the table and got to work, drinking the now barely warm coffee and absently eating. 

 

A few hours rolled by. The tray had long since been discarded to the floor, the table now covered in all I had found in my travels.

I think I found it. 

The cure. Not  _ a _ cure. But  _ the _ cure. For the calling. For what signals that the taint is all but finishing us off. The end. The final from chapter in the life of a Grey Warden.

And after a years research, and these 3 months of non-stop travel and subterfuge and death, I had found it. 

I sat back in the chair, heaved a sigh. While I had traveled, I had learned of another famous female Warden. Named Fiona. Who had been mysteriously cured of the taint. She was an elf mage, who had traveled with King Maric back before Alistair was even conceived. 

She was his mother. 

He didn't know this yet. It was amongst the many things I had to tell him. She had been reluctant to tell me anything at first. But I'm very persuasive. As was my dog. Poor boy was getting old, but he was as fierce as ever. And he knew a kindred warrior in the ex Warden. 

Pupplesnuffagus. A play on the name my father used for me. And the sound he made in his sleep even as a puppy. 

I sighed. Rubbed my face and got up to pace. I had no clue how this conversation would go. I went over to the window and looked out over the keep. I could see him out there talking to Eamon and Teagan. Pupp was sitting at his feet beyond excited to see his other human.

I swung the window open and breathed the fresh air. A breeze blew through the window and it felt amazing. No where smelled quite like home. As if he felt my eyes on him, Alistair looked up. A smile brightened his face, and the two older gentlemen waved up at me. I waved back, then remembered I was wearing only a much too large shirt, and backed away from the window. I went and sat on the bed. Crossed my legs under me and waited. 

Within a couple minutes, the door swing open, and he stood there. Braced his shoulder against the door, just stood there staring at me. 

“Yeeeess?” I said. 

“You're home. And sitting on our bed. Wearing my shirt, I might add. And you're all sexy. Is there anything  _ under _ that shirt?” 

I shook my head. He started to walk towards the bed, shutting the door with his foot. I held out my hand. 

He put his hands on his hips. 

“We need to talk. And that won't happen if you touch me.”

“Well you're sitting there practically screaming ‘TOUCH ME’, Nae. I'm not a strong man when it comes to nearly-naked you.” 

“You can be strong. Go sit at the table, love. Please?” I whispered. 

He raised his eyebrows and went to sit. Propped his left foot on the other leg and crossed his arms, his face in a pout. 

Maker but he was amazing. I sighed. 

“So I've been thinking on how to tell you this since you left for your meetings.”

“You're not leaving me, wench.” His tone was surly.

“What? I'm not leaving. Don't be daft,” I threw up my hands. “I think I found it.”

He sat forward, his elbows on his knees. “ _ It _ ??” 

I nodded. I got up and started to pace. Explained where I had gone, most of what I found. I went back to the window, rubbed my hand over my stomach. 

“I found someone else. A warden who.. Who was miraculously cured of the taint altogether. She..” I swallowed, “she knew your father.”

“She what?” his voice was quiet. 

I closed my eyes. “She knew your father. She's a mage. Very powerful. I met her at Skyhold. At first she refused to talk to me. But when she learned of my husband, she demanded I talk. Then she talked. For days. She's your mother, Alistair.”

I heard the chair topple to the floor. I didn't move. Couldn't even breathe. “She's what?” he whispered.

“Your mother. She gave you to Maric, since she was a Warden already. He made the decision to give you to Eamon and told him the story of the serving woman. Which was partly true, he had, well dallied with her. And she did die in childbirth, but so did the child. You were born a bit later.” 

I stopped talking. I turned around and he was sitting on the bed. Looking as stunned I had felt. I went and knelt on the floor in front of him. 

“I'm sorry.” I whispered it. 

“What for? You didn't lie to me. She did. Well lied by omission. I met her at Skyhold. Before you were there. Did they even know you were there?” 

I shook my head. “I pretended to be a messenger. Left Pupp at a cabin on the mountain and took her a letter. From me. Well from the hero. But she guessed as we talked and kept my presence a secret. She told me she had met you a few weeks prior. She could tell that shocked me. And made me sad. I may have cried when she said what happened to you.” I put my head down. I had cried like a baby. The woman comforted me. Like a mother would. And I had cried more because I missed Alistair, and my own mother, and it was a horrible 3 months. 

I wiped a tear off my cheek. He pulled me off the floor and onto his lap. I buried my face in his neck, let the tears go. I curled into a ball and cried. I didn't even know why I was crying by that point. He just held me, rubbed his hand over my back. Let me cry. I had nearly lost him and hadn't even known. 

“I'm sorry I wasn't here. That you almost died. Again. And I'm sorry she lied to you. About everything.” 

He pulled my face up. “You have nothing to apologize for. You did the right thing. And I had no fear of dying. Because I had you to live for. Well maybe I had a little fear, but only when I saw the giant spider demon thing. Tentacles.” He shuddered. I chuckled, wiping at my face. 

“I came so close to losing you,” I whispered, my hand on his face. 

“Never. I promised you forever. I meant it. Every word. Every moment. Yours. Those vows I spoke? Mean more to me than my Grey Warden vows. But don't tell anyone. Reputations and all that. I'm babbling again aren't I? I just don't want you to cry,” he said with a shaky smile. 

I sighed, dried my face. Kissed him. “I'm never leaving you for that long again. Ever.” I whispered it, but somehow managed to pour enough conviction into the words that even I was convinced. 

He stood up, placed my feet back onto the floor. Then he proceeded to unbuckle his armor. Dropping it into the bed. He stripped, methodically, until he was standing in front me naked. Ah but he was still breathtaking. Lean muscles, tanned and just enough hair to keep things interesting. He pulled me into his arms and bent to kiss me, his lips gentle at first, persistent and lovely. Coaxing mine open, his tongue tangling with mine. After a moment he pulled his mouth away, “What was it you mentioned earlier?” He picked me up, and out of preservation I wrapped my legs around him. “Ah yes,” he said, like he’d made an amazing discovery, “closet sex.” 

I laughed as he carried me into the closet. He pressed my back to the back wall, against one of his bigger fur cloaks. I grasped his face, pulled it back to mine, closing my eyes and just feeling him. He wrapped an arm around my waist, and the other reaching under my leg to touch me. He leaned into the kiss, tongue teasing mine, his fingers parting me, gathering my wetness. He circled my clit a few times, making me writhe against his hand. I pulled my mouth from his, my teeth nipping his bottom lip. He growled, low in his chest. Then he was rubbing his cock against me, through my folds and creating the most delicious friction. I moaned, pressing my forehead to his cheek. He finally slid it into me. Painstakingly slowly, and once he was fully inside me, he just.. Sat there.    
“You get this dazed look on your face when I do that,” he whispered in my ear. “When I am buried to the hilt inside you, and don’t move. Every. Time.”    
Then he slowly pulled out of me, thrust back in. I gripped his shoulders, chewed my lip. 

“And every time, feels better than the first. I will never get enough of you,” he said softly, his lips against my ear. I shook in his arms. Then he started moving, setting this rhythm, grinding against me. Filling me, again and again. I was already so close, and he was edging me ever closer. I pressed my mouth to his ear, gripping his earlobe between my teeth, soothed it with my tongue. He trembled against me.    
Then he moved faster, wringing new sounds out of me with every thrust. “Pleasepleaseplease,” became my new mantra, and finally.. Bliss…

My head fell back against the wall, and I cried out as I fell apart in his arms. Throbbing and clenching around his cock, I gasped with each new thrust, his hips relentless. When he finally came, he pressed close, grinding his pelvis into mine, his voice low and husky. He stood there, shaking against and inside me, holding me against the wall. We were both unable to breathe, and my ears rang so loudly. I leaned forward, kissed him again. And again. And his tongue stole back into my mouth, taking what little breath I had away again. My hands held his face close, and he continued the kiss as he pulled me close again, to carry me back to the bed. He gently laid me down, then laid next to me, his arm over my stomach. He nuzzled my hair. 

“Now, the closet sex was the best idea you had all day,” he mumbled in my ear. I laughed. 

“And there it is.” He leaned up on his elbow and looked down at me. “Are you alright?” 

I nodded. “Better now. It was a long 3 months. Hiding takes a toll when you are basically alone. And before you get silly, it was necessary. You know that. But it still hurt. And I can only take so much. Next time, you’re going with me though. I can’t do that again,” I whispered. He nodded.    
“I don’t think I’d be able to let you go again. You’re right, it was awful. Now enough of the morose and morbid. Are you hungry?”   
I nodded again, and my stomach growled its agreement. “You always look better in my shirts,” he said with a frown. I shrugged. “Should I take it off?” I asked with a smile.    
“Ah, no. Don’t do that. I like looking at you in it. I mean, I like looking at you no matter what. Maker.” He flopped down onto the bed, blushing. I laughed. I was beyond glad to be home. I rolled onto my side and looked down at him.    
There’s a saying, that home is where the heart is. And it’s so very true.    
My heart laid here on this bed, blushing like he did the first time he kissed me. His hair all messy, his face tanned and lean. I knew every part of him, beyond intimately. As he knew me, inside and out.    
Home is where the heart is.    
And my heart was named Alistair, husband, best friend. And love of my life.    



	2. In Love, Forever

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nae encourages Alistair to reach out to Fiona, and begins having problems of her own.

**A Few Days Later -**

 

I woke up in bed alone. I could feel his absence. I rolled over and felt where Alistair had been sleeping. Still warm. I stretched and rolled onto my back, looking around. He stood at the window with a sheet wrapped around himself. Staring out into the dark night sky. I sighed and crawled off the bed, dragging the blanket with me. I wrapped it around my back, and when I got to him, I wrapped it and my arms around him, pressing my face against his back. He sighed and put his hand over mine.    
“Ah, I’m sorry love. Did I wake you?” he asked me quietly. I shook my head.    
“Of course you did. You left me alone in our bed. I’m more worried about you though.”   
“I’m fine.”   
I tsked at him. “You are not fine, love. I’m not blind.”   
He kind of slumped in my arms. My heart broke a little for him right then. “What if she doesn’t want to meet me? What if.. What if she is angry that I know and will refuse to even talk to me?” his voice came out strangled. Like admitting these fears was treasonous. 

I turned him in my arms. I wrapped my arms around his shoulders, standing on my toes. “First of all, you’ve already met. Yes under less than ideal circumstances and she didn’t admit who she was, but you’ve still met. Second, she didn’t ask me to not mention her. Or ask me to tell you not to contact her. This is a very different world than even 6 months ago, Alistair. Everything has changed. So, I still say you did the right thing, writing to her.”   
He nodded and his arms crushed me against his chest, though it was for more of his own comfort than mine. I held him, as long as he needed. Isn’t that what love is about? Taking care of each other, through thick and thin? Even when the world seems at its worst? Eventually he pulled away enough to look down at me. “Thank you, Nae.”    
Simple words. A world of meaning. I nodded and brushed a hand down his face. “You, my love, are tired. Let’s go back to bed and we can figure out this Fiona stuff tomorrow. Deal?” I asked, before yawning. He chuckled and pulled me back to the bed. Once we were situated, him on his side and me curled against his back. My arm was thrown over his stomach, and my hand captured in his. I pressed my forehead to his back and sighed.    
“Sleep sweet,” I whispered as I fell asleep. I heard his mumbled reply but was too far gone to recognize it. 

 

The next morning I woke up first, just a little after sunrise. He was sprawled out beside me, on his stomach. His pillow was nowhere to be found and his strawberry blonde hair was a tousled delightful array of curls. His face was covered in beard scruff and all I wanted to do was run my fingers through his hair. 

Suddenly he spoke. “You’re watching me again, aren’t you?” I jumped.    
“Maybe?” I answered sheepishly. He chuckled and opened his right eye. “Ah hah! You are!”    
I shook my head and rolled onto my own stomach, rearranging my pillow and scowling at the wall facing away from him. I felt him moving on the bed, then he was laying on my back.    
“I have a new mattress,” he said sleepily in my ear. I grunted. Though his weight on top of me wasn’t in any way unpleasant. Especially when his hands started wandering down my body. “My mattress has some fascinating curves.” I sighed. “I’m not a mattress, Alistair,” I grumbled. He chuckled. Rolled off of me and pulled me onto my back. “You are very much not a mattress. You are a paragon of Virtue,” he said as he pressed a kiss to my jaw. I sighed. “You are the Hero of Ferelden,” he whispered before he pressed a kiss to my collarbone. “You are the Savior of Redcliffe,” kissing between my breasts. I took a shaky breath. He looked up at me. “You are so much more than a mattress, love. You are my wife. And the love of my life. Even above cheese!” He grinned at me, and I scowled down at him. He scooted back up my body, ran his fingers through my hair. 

“You keep me grounded,” he said softly, looking down at me. I sighed. “You are also the best person I know. There have been some close ones. But you, you shine above them all. And that's not my very biased opinion based on the phenomenal sex we get to have.”

I laughed. “I'm none of those things. I'll have you know I'm a terrible person. I don't even like cheese half the time.” 

He gasped, and flopped onto the bed next to me, hand over his heart and a stricken look on his handsome face. “You wound me, my lady.” He made his voice crack, like he was honestly going to cry. I rolled my eyes. He raised an eyebrow.    
“No sympathy?” he asked hopefully. I shook my head. He sighed. I sat up and scooted to the edge of the bed. Before I could get up, however, he crawled across the bed and captured me. His hands around my stomach, his chest against my back. His legs around my hips, his mouth next to my ear. “Not so fast, my lady,” he said. I didn’t even try to suppress the shiver his voice invoked. 

“Alistair…”

His breath was hot on my neck. “I'm not done with you,” he said quietly. He grabbed my hand and pulled me back into the bed. With his back against the headboard, he pulled me between his legs, my back against his chest. I took both of his hands and wrapped his arms around me. 

“So we're just going to cuddle then?” I teased. 

“Cuddling is totally overrated, you know,” he blathered on, his fingers playing with mine. I sighed.    
“What are you playing at?” I asked. He sighed.    
“Maybe I’m still worried. Maybe I worry that if things go wrong you might leave.”

I huffed. I turned around in his arms, kneeling between his legs. He looked down at his hands. “Alistair. Remember how you went on about vows and all that the other day?” I asked softly. He nodded.    
“What makes you think your vows are any more important to you, than mine are to me?” He shrugged. I lifted his face, brought mine close to his. “You are everything. I made promises that day too. And I mean every one of them, every day. I choose to be here. To love you. Everything about you. From your ridiculous hair,” and I ruffled my fingers through it, “to your love of all things cheese, to your heart. And your courage. And your smile,” I whispered the last, pulling him close to me. I wrapped my arms around him, pressing close. He hugged me then, pushing his face into my neck.

“I’m sorry, Nae. So sorry,” he whispered. I rubbed my hand over his hair, “You have nothing to be sorry for, love. Nothing whatsoever. You have fears. You are only human, after all.” 

He gave a wry chuckle against my neck. “Why are you so good to me?” 

“Because you deserve some good, Alistair. We all do sometimes.” I lifted his face and kissed him. Closed my eyes and let our mouths carry us. His hands spread against my back, and I moved to straddle his lap. He pulled his mouth from mine and pressed it to my jaw. His hands slid down my back and gripped my butt. He looked up at me then, “You never tire of us?” he asked. I laughed.

“Never. Now make love to me,” I whispered, raising my eyebrow in challenge. He gave me this brilliant smile, before grabbing me close and rolling me back onto the bed. 

“Your wish, is my command,” he said before kissing me thoroughly. Ah this is my Alistair, the one with those amazing hands. Hands that were touching me in every right way. First my face, my neck.. My breasts, taking my breath away. Kneading, pulling, plucking and soothing. Fingers that never failed to thrill me. Then his hands moved. Down my sides, across my hips, opening my legs for his pelvis to nestle close. 

He withdrew his mouth, kissing up my jaw, down my neck and shoulder, across my collarbone. A nip on the side of my breast, his tongue licking the sting away.  A kiss on my stomach. Then he was off of me, between my legs, spreading me with his tongue. I gasped when he dipped his tongue inside me, my hand pressing to my stomach. He chuckled against my skin, sending goosebumps scattering up my body. Then his tongue was on my clit, pulling, licking, sucking. Soon I was writhing against his face, and he gifted me with his fingers, deep inside me. I moaned when they moved, his tongue moving with them. Back and forth, again and again, pushing me ever closer. 

My back arched when I crested, a low cry escaping me as my body pressed against him in its bid for more. Clenching and throbbing, spasm after spasm. I laid there panting, my ears ringing and my heart racing. 

I twitched when he removed his fingers, and he pressed a last kiss to my stomach. He pulled me up, and slid himself behind me. His cock rested against my folds, hot and so very hard. His mouth pressed to my shoulder as his hands each grasped a breast. I shifted my hips, rubbing my arousal along his cock, making him moan against my skin. He reached up and guided my chin, bringing my mouth to his. His tongue dived between my lips, ravaging my mouth. I reached up and threaded my fingers through his hair, keeping him close. His other hand left my chest and reached between us, grasping his cock, guiding it to my entrance. He pulled his mouth from mine and watched me as he thrust it slowly, but surely, to the hilt inside me. 

He smiled at me, “Your face, Maker. Your beautiful face when I fill you. Never ceases to arouse me further,” he whispered. I tried to chuckle but he moved then, wiping all thought of words from my mind. 

He let go of my chin, and gripped my hips, thrusting slowly at first. Long and deep, his cock fit me so well. I leaned forward, gripping the footboard of the bed, as he continued to move. My hair fell in a dark cloud from my head, my body bouncing forward with the force of his. And he quickened his pace, drawing breathy moans from me, deeper and deeper he went. 

Then he buried himself deep, and stayed there. He leaned back on his heels, pulling me up and against his chest. He wrapped an arm around my chest, right under my breasts. His other hand moved between my legs, effortlessly finding that raw bundle of nerves. He pressed his mouth to my ear, “That little sound you make when you come, I missed that most, in the middle of the night. The feel of you hot and tight, the smell of your hair, the press of your hips against me as you reach your pleasure,” his voice was hoarse but his words had their desired effect. His fingers dipped low, gathering the wet he elicited from my arousal, then began to rub.. Soft, slow circles, loose lazy ones. He twitched inside my as my muscles gripped him, more the closer he pushed me to my release. I gripped his wrist, and with a deft hand, he sent me over. I cried out, my hips bucking against him, muscles convulsing on his cock, stomach clenching. He let go of me and I fell forward, and as I caught myself, he grasped my hips and slowly withdrew his cock, before swiftly pushing it back in. I moaned, my body still throbbing and pulsing around him. He repeated the motion, once.. Then twice more before grinding against me as he groaned with his own orgasm. He spilled deep inside me, hot and heavy, his hands still gripping my hips. His breath was ragged as he tried chuckle behind me. He pulled me back up again, and laid us sideways on the bed. 

I grabbed his hand and brought it to my mouth, kissing his knuckles. “Never doubt my love for you, Alistair.” I whispered the words, but their impact was immediate. He hugged me back against his chest, “I love you too. More than anything,” he answered. I nodded and sighed. I had a feeling it was going to be a long however long it took for Fiona to answer his letter. 

We laid there awhile in comfortable silence, before he pulled a blanket over us and we fell back to sleep. 

 

**A Week Or So Later -**

 

I was sitting on a chair in the garden, attempting to read. I had been fighting a headache most of the day, and had finally banished Alistair and Pupp to go play elsewhere. They had both given me such forlorn looks. But, Maker's breath, they were energetic enough to drive even me insane some days. I pressed a hand to my eyes, trying to stifle the pain. Fear gnawed at my mind, and I ruthlessly stomped it down. I knew we would have to leave soon. Whether or not Fiona answered. Alistair was fine. 

But. 

I was fairly sure I wasn't.

And I didn't know how to tell him… That the voices we hear whisper to us in our dreams, were becoming daylight whispers for me. 

Terror was my new friend. 

And her name was the Calling. 

I stared down at the book on the table, pressing my palms against the wood to stop their shaking. I jumped when the garden door slammed open. Alistair stood there with an envelope in his hand, a look of abject terror on his lovely face.

“She answered!” he yelled. I sighed. About bloody time. 

“Did you open it?” I asked, knowing full well he hadn't. He shook his head. He walked over to me and dropped it on the table. “What if..” he started to say. I reached up and covered his mouth. 

“No. Open it. Stop wondering and see. Please?” 

He nodded, kissed my fingers and pushed my hand away. 

He reached for the envelope, tearing the paper above the wax seal. His hand shook as he took out the letter. He began to read it out loud.

“Dearest Alistair, I've waited for you to write. Your wife is a remarkable person, and her love for you is beyond evident. You are a very lucky man. I'm, well, I'm sorry for not telling you who I am when we met at Skyhold. It was such a shock to see you, and you looked so like your father at that age. I've spent years wondering how I would approach this. I've heard of your exploits, especially after the Archdemon attack in Denerim. You gave up all claim to the throne, and you married your fellow Grey Warden. You grew into an admirable, strong man. Your father would have been proud of you. I'm proud of you, not that I've much right to be. Your request to see me is fair. I am currently on my way to see you. I will wait a few days, and head out after my letter. If you still wish to see me, I will be there in 3 days time. If not, please just send a messenger and I will turn back. Respect your wishes. I hope this letter finds you and your wife well. Give her my love, and take some for yourself. I'll see you soon, Maker willing. Yours forever, Fiona”

 

He took a breath. Looked at me. “She's coming here.” It's all he said. But it had a wealth of meaning. I nodded, reaching out to take his hand. “Do you still want her to?” I asked him softly.    
“I think I do. I really actually do. How about that?” he mused aloud. I smiled.    
“Then she will come. And you can finally meet her as your mother. I’m happy for you, love.”    
“Oh, Maker. I’m sorry! Here I am finding mine and you lost yours,” he started to say. I laughed. “Alistair. I would begrudge no one their parent. Ever. I had mine for 20 years. She was a magnificent and strong woman and I am proud to have known her. I’m alright, I promise.”   
He looked at me, a single eyebrow askew. “You’re sure?” 

I poked him. “More than sure. Stop being silly.” He grasped my face and kissed me. “I’m going to meet my mother!” he exclaimed again, a brilliant smile lighting his face. He pulled me to my feet and with a bruising hug, swung me through the air. I laughed with him, it was really the only thing to do. Celebrate with him while we could.    
Other things could wait. 

 

**2 Days Later -**

 

I awoke suddenly, covered in a fine sweat, heart slamming away in my chest. I grasped the sheet to my chest, and waved to Pupp, who was lying and alert, by the nearly dead fire. I looked over and saw Alistair sleeping soundly, his hand under my pillow, his face a mask of serenity. I envied that, in this moment. I silently crawled from the bed and went to the dresser and drank a glass of water. Then I went for something stronger. Antivan Brandy, courtesy of Zevran from wherever he was currently causing trouble. I poured a few fingers into a glass, and tossed it back, barely containing the cough the rough liquor tried to cause. 

I grabbed one of Alistair's shirts from the closet and went to sit on the balcony. Today had been a good day. We had spent the day preparing for Fiona’s arrival, and I had none of the pain, none of the nagging whispers. 

Tonight was a different story altogether. I closed my eyes and concentrated on anything else. 

Alistair's smile.

The sunlight shining through the trees.

Pupp and his always inevitable betrayal of me for food from Alistair.

Alistair. I sighed. Best thing in my life.

 

_ I stood in my room in my childhood home. Dressed in a pale ice blue gown, my not so short black curls pinned up with Andraste’s Grace flowers. Fergus paced near the door.  _

_ “And you're sure?” he asked me for the 100th time. I laughed and pulled him into my arms.  _

_ “Beyond sure, Fergus. He's my one.” _

_ “Father would like him,” he said, his face in my hair. “I like him.” _

_ I pulled away. “I love him. He makes me feel alive. And he is a very good man. Kind. Gentle. Loving. But so fierce.” _

_ “You really do love him,” he said gently. I nodded. _

_ “Then I'm happy for you.” _

_ I grasped his face. “They wouldn't want you to mourn them forever. It's been over two years. I'm not saying to move on. But try and smile. Be happy. Live, Fergus. For me. Live.”  _

_ He put his hand over one of mine. His brown eyes weren't as shadowed as before. And he no longer looked like a half dead homeless man. He had color in his cheeks and he’d been getting more and more into the day to day running of the manor.  _

_ “I will try my utmost to live, Pup,” he answered with a true genuine smile.  _

_ “Now, it's nearly time. Are you ready?”  _

_ I nodded, grabbing the bundle of flowers Leliana had prepared for me. Most of them had made it back for the wedding. Leliana, Zevran, Oghren, Wynne. Morrigan of course wasn't here. But my new family was. I took Fergus’s arm and allowed him to lead me through the house to the garden.  _

_ Alistair stood in a formal suit, a dark royal blue. His hair trimmed and his eyes bright. Pupp sat next to him, his little tie making him look marginally less fierce. The chantry Mother stood behind them, a serene smile on her face. But really, I had no eyes for anyone but him. His face softened when I got close, his eyes on his mother's necklace around my neck. He rubbed a hand over his face when Fergus handed me to him.  _

_ Words were spoken by the Mother, then she asked if we had vows to speak. I nodded.  _

_ With Alistair's hand in mine, I spoke, “I met you mere days after the worst event in my life. I was cold. I was distant. But you never failed to try and make me smile. You whittled away at what few defenses I had left. And then your world came crashing in. And there we were. Two broken Grey Wardens against the world. You held me up when I needed strength, and I gave you the same. It didn't take me long to learn to love you. Your innocence. Your unwitting charm. Your unfailing honor. Your need to try and find good in everyone. You are a rare light in this world. You taught me that love is messy, and a blessing. You make me whole. And I will cherish spending every day for the rest of our lives showing you this. I love you, Alistair Theirin.” _

_ He sniffed, and kissed my hand. _

_ “Who could possibly follow up that with anything resembling coherency?” he asked with a grin. “You give yourself far too little credit. You were the literal glue in our lives. You brought us all together. And you gave each one of us a bigger purpose. Myself most of all. You let me ramble on about Duncan, let me grieve. You taught me that doing the right thing is often far harder than doing the easy thing. You gave me hope. Hope that the world isn't as awful a place as I had always imagined it to be. You gave me love. You patched me up, you gave me a family. Quite possibly the oddest family ever, yes I'm talking about you Oghren. But you, Naeleri, brought me to life. Your love. Your smile. Your unfailing goodness. And your ever ready wit. You slay me, and I couldn't possibly love you more. And I will spend every waking moment I can proving it to you, from today forward.” When he finished speaking, his voice was rough. I wiped a tear from my face. _

_ The Mother spoke a few more words, and we exchanged rings. My ring for him was my father's wedding band. He had given it to me when I fled the keep. I had etched into the inside of the band “In Love, Forever”. Something we had said as part of our Grey Warden vows. He presented me with a simple silver band, flowers and griffons etched into the outside. I didn't know until later, on the inside were the same words, “In Love, Forever”. Great minds.  _

_ The Mother pronounced us husband and wife, and needing no urging, Alistair took my face in his hands and kissed me. My hands held his arms and we stood there for who knows how long. Oghren and Zev loudly cheered and eventually Alistair pulled back. He smiled down at me, before pulling me into his arms. We laughed and hugged, our friends and family cheering us on.  _

 

I shook my head. My back ached from sitting against the hard wall. And my heart ached because we had so little time and I hadn't even told Alistair yet. He was so excited to see Fiona, and I couldn't bear to dampen that. He’d need her if we couldn't fix this in time. I covered my mouth, trying not to cry. 

But this time I couldn't stop. The tears poured down my face, and even though I tried to smother it all in my hands I couldn't be silent. Pupp came and joined me, sitting on my feet, his wet nose against my leg. Then Alistair was there, blanket in hand. He sat next to me, pulled me into his lap and covered us both, letting me cry. When I finally stopped, he picked me up and carried me to the bed, drying my face and asking for nothing. 

He kissed me. So gentle. Then he loved me. His hands took his shirt off of me, exploring my skin, soft touches, urgent ones. His mouth claimed mine again, and he settled his hips on mine. I clung to him, needing him more than he could possibly know. I reached up and caressed his face, and he pulled his mouth away. 

“You'll tell me eventually?” he asked me quietly. I nodded. “Soon. I promise. I love you,” I whispered back. He smiled then, before resuming his exploration. Before long, he was hard against my thigh, and I was practically begging him for more. 

He pressed his forehead to mine, shifting his hips, guiding his cock to my entrance. I begged in his ear, pleading with him to love me. Then he was inside me, his hands holding mine above our heads, my legs wrapped around him. And he moved… slow sure thrusts that made us both tremble. His chest against mine, hearts racing together, need consuming us both. 

He looked down at me, watching me intently as he moved faster. I gave in. He pushed and pushed, his hands still holding mine. I tried to hold out, but he knew me all too well, and with a quick move, his left hand grasped both my wrists, and his right snaked between us, finding my clit and sending me over. I cried out, coming apart beneath him. He kept moving, trembling on top of me. My body clutched at his cock, over and over. And he finally joined me, his voice rough as he groaned in my ear. We laid there, a trembly, spasming, pulsing mess. Ears ringing and blood rushing.

When he rolled off of me, he kept my left hand in his. “Are you alright, Nae?” he asked me, his eyes on the ceiling. I scooted against his side, laying my head on his shoulder. 

“I will be. I promise to tell you all of it. After your mother gets here.” 

He just nodded. I pulled a blanket up to cover us, and he turned us every which way until he was curled up against my back, his arms right around my stomach. “You're mine,” he whispered. 

“In Love, Forever,” I whispered back, as we both fell back asleep. 

 

The next morning, Alistair woke me up with a shake. “Nae! Naaaae! Woman! Wake up!” he urged. I slapped his hand and covered my head with a pillow. He yanked the pillow and tossed it to the foot of the bed. He turned me onto my back and got into my face. “I'm excited and you're sleeping!” 

I tried to push him away but he wasn't having it. “Nae. Don't make me do the thing,” he warned, his voice low and ‘menacing'. I cracked open my eyes. 

“Don't you dare,” I warned back. He squinted, made claws of his hands. I tried to grab his wrists before he could do it. But he was fast. And then I was dying. 

Laughing. He was tickling me. With utmost attention. I squealed and tried to get away, but he held me firm. Then he was straddling me, fingers everywhere, drawing more and more laughter. He captured my wrists and leaned down, his face close to mine. “There she is.” He sounded very satisfied with himself. I raised an eyebrow and he snorted. “Your haughty eyebrow means nothing to me, wench,” he sneered. I snorted. He kissed me. Teasing at first.

Then it changed. Deepened, his tongue grabbing at mine, his hands moving down my arms, touching, caressing. My heart was racing and heat pooled in my stomach. I grasped his face, keeping his mouth on mine. The kiss was thorough, languid, tongues and lips and hot breath. He shifted his body, no longer straddling me, his hips settling on top of mine. Even though a sheet still separated us, he was hot against me. His hands shoved said sheet down my body, enough to free my breasts for his hands enjoyment. 

Then his mouth was gone, only to reappear as he took a breast in his mouth. I sighed, minding the rude awakening less and less. I ran my fingers through his hair, encouraging his attentions. He shifted again and pulled the sheet from my body, moving to kneel between my legs. He raised an eyebrow and skimmed his hands up my inner thighs. Then he was touching me. Both hands, one spreading spreading my lower lips, the other sliding two fingers inside me. I gasped when his free hand pressed two fingers to my clit, slow rubs, relentless and strong. He had me writhing within seconds, moaning his name. 

Begging for more. Begging for less? His fingers inside me, pumping deep, his other hand driving me closer and closer. I pressed my pelvis against his hands, and he pressed his face to my stomach, his own breath ragged. He could feel my body tensing, but before he gave me release, he pulled his hands away, gripped my hips and thrust his cock inside me. I grabbed for the headboard, wrapping my legs around him as he shook me with the power of his hips. I watched his face, I love that face. Intense concentration warring with immense pleasure. He filled me again.. And again.. And again.. Faster with each thrust. Then his hand was on me again, and nothing could have stopped me. I cried out, my back arching as my body took over. 

Clenching and throbbing, I trembled beneath him. He threw his head back and gave this short strangled sound as he reached his own, my body wringing it from him. He pulsed inside me, his body and mine creating this strange rhythm. I laid there, ears ringing and body tensing again and again. I held out my hands and he entwined his fingers with mine, before leaning forward to kiss me. Then he chuckled. “Now this, this is going to be a great day,” he said, his forehead against mine. I smiled and pulled him down on top of me.    
“A very great day,” I said, rubbing my feet on his legs.    
“Are you really alright?” he asked me quietly, his hand coming up to smooth my hair away from my face. I just nodded. “You better be. Or I will be really, I don’t know. But it won’t be pleasant,” he warned me, trying to go all stern of face. I pulled his mouth back to mine and distracted him. 

I distracted him so thoroughly that it was another 2 hours before we left the room. My face was a bright red, and I was deliciously sore. He held my hand as we made our way through the keep to the dining room, kept kissing my knuckles and turning my insides to jelly. I sighed and wanted to go back to our bedroom and lose myself in the bliss that was Alistair. We ate some late breakfast, and after getting Pupp some food as well, we made our way out to the gardens. We sat together on one of the garden benches, my legs over his, and his arm wrapped around me. His other hand held one of mine. 

“I did the right thing, right?” he asked me, breaking the silence. I sighed.   
“Of course you did. It’s too late now anyhow. Anyways, you made me be pretty today, so at this point if it’s for nothing I am going to hurt you.”

He laughed. And I was right. He had asked me to wear a dress, one that matched my gray eyes. I had plaited several braids into my long hair and wrapped them around my head. He kissed my forehead. “You look beautiful no matter what you are, oooor are not, wearing, Nae.” I just shook my head.    
“Alistair,” I said, before I could change my mind.    
“Yeeeess?”

“Do you want children?” I asked quietly.    
“I… I never thought about it. Honestly. Because of what we are, and how crazy our lives have been. Do you?” he looked down at me as he spoke, confusion plain as day on his face.   
“I don’t know. I’ve been thinking about it. With.. with the breach closed. And having found answers of a sort. When, well when we get this thing fixed, or contained, whatever. I think we could go home.”    
He reached up and rubbed his thumb over my mouth. “Are you certain?” he asked me quietly, though the hope he felt was evident. I nodded. “I’m tired, Alistair. So tired. And I want to be free. With you. I think, after all we have given Thedas, we have earned it.” 

“You want to have a child? With me?” 

“Is that so hard to process?” I asked him with a laugh.    
He just looked baffled. I shifted on the bench and straddled his lap. Grasping his face, I kissed him. Just a simple kiss. He wrapped his arms around me and stood, crushing me against his chest. He laughed and spun us around. I laughed with him, how could I not?    
We heard a throat clearing behind me. He set me down and straightened his shirt. I fixed my dress before turning around. There stood Fiona with Eamon. I blushed but walked over greeting her and hugging her. She smiled tremulously at me, and I put my arm through hers. I walked her back to where Alistair stood rooted to the ground. 

“Hello, Alistair,” she said softly. He nodded stiffly, looking at me. I took his hand with my left. “Alistair, please,” I said, beseeching. He took a breath. “Thank, uhm, thank you for coming, Fiona. Mother? Maker’s breath,” he mumbled. I squeezed his hand.    
“I’m glad you wrote to me, Alistair. After meeting Naeleri at Skyhold, I had hoped you would.”    
“To be honest, I almost didn’t. I’m not sure what to even say,” he said. He looked.. Confused. I sighed.    
“Love. Let’s go sit down and just talk,” I suggested. He nodded, perking up. I suppressed a laugh. What a ridiculous man.    
We went back into the garden and sat on the bench, with Alistair pulling up a chair for himself. We made small talk for a while, and Eamon sent out one of his servants with a tray of goodies. Alistair loosened up after a bit, talking about the Wardens, Duncan. Eamon and his life with the Chantry. How we met and even our wedding. He told stories about Pupp and himself and their shenanigans. And he asked her questions. What felt like a million of them. When he finally got to the hard ones, he got up and paced while she patiently answered. 

Why she had let Maric take him as a baby. Why she hadn't found him after she had been sent back to the Circle. Why she had waited until he was an adult to make any overture at all, even surreptitiously through me. They talked for a few hours, and eventually Eamon sent one of the servants out to get us for the evening meal. We sat and ate and laughed. Eamon asked to talk to Alistair so I escorted Fiona to a room that had been prepared for her. 

“Are you feeling alright, Naeleri?” she asked me out of nowhere when we got to her door. 

“I'm fine, why do you ask?” 

“You have that look.” 

“What look?” I was wary. 

“I've seen it countless times. I was a Grey Warden for years, and just because they sent me back to the circle, doesn't mean that I didn't see the Wardens I had come to count as friends. You look.. Stretched thin. I suppose that's one way to put it.” She sat on the end of the bed and patted the mattress next to her. I sat and took a breath.

“I'm not sure if that's what this is,” I started to say. She shook her head. 

“You're hearing it. And it's not a time of a blight, and there have been no reports of Darkspawn activity in a while, not above ground.”

I rubbed a hand over my face. “I haven't told Alistair. It.. It really only started last week. And I've found answers. We're leaving in a week. I think we have to go no matter what.” 

“You need to tell him,” she said quietly. I nodded. 

“I plan to tonight, I wanted him to get through today.”

She nodded. 

“Do you need help?” she offered. I laughed. 

“I have no idea. I have a feeling this is happening because I was, well, I was the one who killed the Archdemon. And I had a far more personal dealing with the Architect. Why do you ask?”

“I have time, for now. The College of Enchanters is up and running, and I've got some free time for a bit. I could go with you and assist if things, well if they progress faster than usual.” 

“Let me talk to Alistair. And I will let you know tomorrow.”

She nodded and offered me a hug. Which I willingly took because I had had a shortage of motherly hugs for a while. 

“Have a good night,” I told her as I got up to leave her. She wished me the same, as well as good luck. 

I left and on my walk back across the keep I stopped one of the servants and asked her to ask Alistair to come to our room. She nodded and ran off to do so and I retired to our room. I changed into a nightgown and a robe, and grabbed a blanket. I pulled the big chair to sit in front of the fireplace and curled up there to wait for him. 

I stared into the fire and tried to contain my fear. I must have fallen asleep waiting, because when he touched my hand to wake me I nearly jumped out of the chair. He smiled and kissed my head. 

“Sorry I kept you waiting. Eamon and Teagan were there and it was ridiculous. You alright?” he asked me as he got up and started to undress for bed. I nodded. Swallowed. 

“Alistair, come sit with me,” I said quietly. He had his shirt in his hand and with a small shrug he tossed it in the bed and crossed the room back to the chair. I stood, he took my place and I climbed into his lap. 

I took his right hand in my left and took a breath. “Remember how I said I would tell you what was going on the other night?” I started to say. He nodded.

“I'm not going to like this, am I?” he asked with a wry smile. I shook my head. 

“Last week I started hearing the whispers,” I whispered. 

“YOU WHAT?” he yelled, grabbing my shoulders. 

“I thought it was just me being run down after all the extra travel I've been doing, and then the dreams started and Fiona answered and you were freaking out and I didn't know what to do!” I wailed. He stared at me. 

“You can't be serious,” he started to say. I knocked hands away and got up. Started pacing. 

“The whispers aren't the same as they were when the Archdemon rose, Alistair. They're more sinister. Like a tickle of hate at the back of my mind. And they aren't all the time. I get headaches when they start though. The dreams are darker, and more foreboding than the dreams of the blight.” I threw up my hands. 

“I didn't want to ruin today for you, and so I waited. Do you think I like this?! Do you think, after everything we've been through, that this is what I want?” I stopped and stared at him. He had his hand over his mouth and his eyes were wide. 

“I found answers. And we're going to the Wardens Keep. Levi has something for me. From Avernus. And Fiona wants to come with us. When we go.” I knelt on the floor in front of him. “Please say something,” I whispered. Begging. 

His hands grabbed mine and he pulled me back onto his lap.    
“You are mine, I’m not letting this blight crap take you away from me.” His voice was fierce, as was his grip. “We are going to fix this, and then we are going home. And there is no way I’m letting this happen.” He turned me to face him, “This isn’t going to be the end of us, that is a promise.” I nodded. 

Then his hands were pulling me against his chest, hugging me close. I closed my eyes and wrapped my arms tightly around him. When he pulled away, he scooped me up in his arms and carried me to the bed. He undressed me and himself, then set about proving to me that I was, indeed, very much his. Several times. We didn’t get to sleep until the early morning hours, wrapped around each other, facing each other as we started to feel the emotional and physical effects of the night. His hand smoothed my hair from my face and scooted his face closer to mine on the bed. “I love you, you know that?” he asked quietly. I nodded.   
“I’ve never doubted that,” I answered just as quietly. He smiled then, this sweet smile full of promise.    
“We’re going to have our time, Nae. Believe that. This is only the beginning for us,” he whispered. I smiled, closing my eyes.   
“Only the beginning of forever,” I answered, falling asleep completely sure that we were, indeed, forever. 

In Love, Forever. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok so two things.  
> First - all of my musings on the cure for the taint/calling are just things I've pieced together from the games. I've never read the official DA books because I'm poor and can't get them atm. I have done a TON of research and this is what I FEEL could be an answer.. NOT WHAT THEY SAY is or isn't.  
> Second - don't take anything I say as gospel here. Because, it's aaallllllll out of game. This is post inquisition/pre Trespasser and purely in my head.


	3. Phoenix Rising

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As her calling progresses, things become more dire. They go to the Wardens Keep and find some answers.

**A Week Later** **-**

 

I sat on the rock near the stream we had stopped at. We were in the process of traveling to the Warden Keep where Levi Dryden was still stationed with his family. Fiona and Alistair were off talking directions and whatever else they felt like discussing. I pressed my fingers to my temples, digging them into my skin, just trying to find a little relief. Fiona had been really wonderful this entire time. Deferring to Alistair or myself, offering advice but never overstepping. She was taking care of us the best way she could.    
I sighed. I had been particularly snippy today, through no fault of my own or theirs. And I felt like everyone was walking on glass around me, trying to keep me calm. Which was honestly just stressing me out more in the long run. I stood up and stretched. They were well occupied, and I needed a minute alone. I wandered off the road and into the dark of the trees. I found a quiet spot closer to the stream away from their voices. Alistair had been so good about all of this but the whole “Nae you’re very fragile” thing was beginning to grate. He didn’t mean it that way but it felt like it every time he tried to help me with things he didn’t usually need to help me with. And, heavens preserve me, it was making me inordinately angry. 

I tossed a rock out into the water, trying to ignore the incessant off key whispering in my brain. We only had a couple more days travel before we reached Warden’s Keep. Then I could rest for a little bit. But, in all honesty, not long. I could feel the pull deepening. Like a shadow on the edges of my vision I couldn’t quite see. We should be in Denerim tonight, and I could sleep in a real bed. Eamon had given us use of his estate there. I had avoided Denerim as much as possible in the years since it had been ravaged by the darkspawn, thought it had bounced back beautifully. It was bigger than before, and the elves weren’t confined to the alienage any more.    
“Nae? Where did you wander off to?” I heard Alistair calling.    
“Over here,” I answered, not bothering to raise my voice. Within a few seconds he sat down beside me. “Why did you run off?” he asked, his brow furrowed. I looked at him.    
“Ah. Was I hovering again?” 

“Not so much ‘hovering’ as you were just… never mind. Is it time to go?” I asked, looking back at the water. “Look at me,” he said. I shook my head. His hand gripped my chin and pulled my gaze to his.    
“I feel useless.” He said it with a huff. Not exactly what I had expected. My shoulders slumped a little. He continued, “I feel useless, and like we are running a losing race. I need to feel useful. So if helping you from horses or whatever else I can find to do, let me do it. You are the most important anything to me, Nae. Please,” he whispered the last. I felt the single tear fall down my cheek. He wiped it away and pulled me into his arms, crushing me against his chest.    
“I’m scared, and I don’t want to burden you more,” I whispered against his shoulder, my fingers clutching at his shirt. 

“For better or worse,” he said quietly, and that was all I needed to hear. Apparently my heart was a good deal smarter than my mind. I pulled away and looked up at him. “Thank you,” I said. He smiled.    
“You, my love, are welcome. Now, I will try not to hover so much if you let me do so when you need it. Sound like a deal?” 

I nodded. He leaned down and kissed me, lips soft and pleasant. Then I threaded my fingers into his hair and deepened the kiss. My heart started to thud deep in my chest. My tongue teased his and when he finally pulled away, his breath was as erratic as mine. “Tonight we have a bed. And I will have you on said bed, that’s a promise,” he said quietly, his voice sounding strangled. He pressed another quick hard kiss to my mouth then grabbed my hand and led me back to our little convoy. Fiona waved at me as she mounted her horse, and after Alistair boosted me into mine, he mounted his own and we took off once more. A few hours later we were pulling into the courtyard of Eamons Denerim estate. A couple of his footmen greeted us and with Eamon’s own guard’s traveling with us we had no trouble.    
The young man who was running the estate gave us the master bedroom, after reading the letter the guard who escorted us, gave him. I asked them to ready the bathing room, and after depositing our stuff in the bedroom, Alistair and I made our way to the bathing room. Eamon was rather proud of this room, had added it after part of the house had been damaged in the fight with darkspawn. A big wide tub set recessed into the floor, not especially deep but the dark blue tiles of the floor made it look far deeper than it was. Alistair locked the door behind us and without speaking at all, we stripped and climbed into the hot water.    
I literally groaned, the water felt that great. Alistair pulled me onto his lap on the low bench in the water. He held me, and we talked. We talked like we used to, sweet conversation not marred with the worry I know nagged at the back of both of our minds. He held my hands, fingers twisted through mine. And after we talked, and washed each other, and once we were done, I was yawning pretty incessantly. He wrapped me in a big fluffy robe he had absconded with, and with a towel wrapped around himself, we went back to our room. I combed and braided my hair, and crawled into the bed exhausted. Alistair followed soon behind me, and within minutes I was drifting into sleep.    
  
_ I sat in an open field, just.. Alone. I looked around and everything was burnt and destroyed. Remnants of houses, charred bodies of animals and people. The smell of burning death and decay. I looked down and my hands were covered in soot and ash. I felt this throbbing deep inside of me, just this side of pain. I looked around again, and felt a pull from somewhere. I climbed to my feet and wandered in the direction of whatever it was. My feet were bare but I didn’t feel the crunch of the crispy burned field under my toes.  _

_ I put a hand to my forehead to shade it from the glare of the red sunlight. I kept following whatever it was pulling at me. When I reached the edge of a ravine, I looked down and almost died. I fell to my knees, the crunch of the dirt against my skin painful and sharp. Dead people strewn across the floor of the ravine. Hundreds and hundreds. Faceless people, mangled and burned. I could feel myself crying, silent and mournful. I climbed to my feet again and started to walk along the side of the ravine, trying not to look down at the unpleasant scene below me. When I reached the end, I screamed.  _ _   
_ _ And screamed _

_ For there on giant the only tree left standing, were Alistair and Fiona, hanging, dead, burned and rotting.  _ _   
_ __   
Hands grabbed me, “Nae! Come on! It’s me!!” Alistair yelled, shaking my shoulders. When I finally felt myself back.. In myself so to speak, I jumped into his arms and buried my face against his chest. My heart was racing and I felt sick. 

“Are you alright?” he asked me quietly. I nodded and just clung to him. I told him about the dream and he just sighed as it got worse and worse. When I finished, I was far more relaxed in his arms.    
“You know, I am never going back to sleep after that,” he said with a raised eyebrow. 

I looked up at him. “Oh, really now? What did you have in mind?” I asked. I could feel that answering tug in my stomach, and he gently ran his thumb over my lips. I pushed him back onto the bed, moving to straddle his stomach. I tugged my nightgown off over my head, and once I was naked, I laid down on his chest. He ran his hands down my back, his skin hot against mine. When he reached my butt, he squeezed me close. I kissed his chin, his jaw. Pressed slow kisses down his neck, across his collarbone. He moved to kiss me but I shook my head.   
“Let me love you,” I whispered, staring down at him in the dark. He nodded. I pressed a kiss against his chest, moved to lick his left nipple, pulling it between my lips. Goosebumps raced across his skin. I did the same to the right, my hand laying over his heart. His heart picked up pace. I moved down his body, kissing his stomach. Then his hip. The other hip. I moved to kneel between his legs, wrapping my hand around his cock. So smooth, hard and hot. His stomach twitched when I started to stroke him gently with my hand. I leaned forward, my eyes on his as I took the head of his cock into my mouth. 

His pupils instantly dilated, barely illuminated by the fire next to the bed. I sucked him further into my mouth, twirling my tongue along the underside of his shaft. His hips lurched on the bed, his breath hitching when his cock reached the back of my mouth. I started to bob my head then, pulling my mouth almost entirely from him, before sucking him deep again. My hand followed my lips, gripping him tight as I slowly drove him mad. His hips started rising and falling, his body desperate for more. His one arm flung over his face, the other threading into my hair. I pulled my mouth from his cock, holding it forward to lick it slowly, running my tongue from his sac to the tip. He trembled under my hands, his cock twitching in my hand.    
I put my lips around his cock again, sucking him into my mouth. He moaned, his hips bucking against me. I bobbed my head again, down and back up. He whimpered almost, this strangled sweet sound that skittered through me. I pulled my mouth from him again, and he gasped. Then his hands were hauling me up, and within seconds I was trapped beneath him on the bed, his hips sitting on mine, between my legs. I pouted.    
He grasped my hands, clasped them both in his left hand right above my head. He held my chin with his other hand, staring into my eyes as he shifted his hips, dragging his cock against me. My eyes nearly crossed and he gave me a very satisfied grin. He let my face go and slowly dragged his fingers down my chest, between my breasts, down my stomach to my pelvis. Ah, and he was touching me, a quick barely there rub of his fingers across my hot skin. I moaned when he grasped his cock and rubbed it against me, up.. And down.. Before finally sliding it inside me. My eyes closed and I pressed my hips up against his.    
He started to thrust. Slowly at first, long and sure. I wrapped my legs around him, trying to draw him deeper. His arm holding my hands trembled above my head, and he chewed his lip in his concentration. I managed to pull my left hand from his, reaching up and pulling his mouth to mine. Kissed him like it was the only thing worth doing with my life. Sensual and slow, tongues thrusting and twisting. The heat rolling about in my belly made me twitchy beneath him. He wound his fingers through mine, pulling our hands down beside our heads. He pulled his mouth from mine, pressing his mouth to my shoulder.    
His teeth scraped my skin, his breath ragged and hot. His fingers found me again, hot and eager, fanning the flames. I whimpered under him, as he pushed me ever closer. I raised my hips, drawing him deeper with each thrust, his hand as relentless as his cock. “Maker,” he breathed against my shoulder. I tried to laugh but I was far too gone.    
It came out more as a moan, then a louder groan when I finally peaked.    
Throbbing and pressing close, my body fell to pieces beneath his. His hand squeezed mine, and within seconds, he followed me into bliss. Ears ringing, hearts screaming in our chests. Breath choppy and ragged, hands gripping. My muscles clenching, his cock pulsing inside me. He collapsed on top of me, his weight more than welcome. His face pressed against my neck, and his mouth smiled against my skin. I rubbed my hand down his side, lazy movements. Tried to breathe, lost in the moment.    
A few minutes later, he lifted his head and looked down at me. Kissed me softly. Pressed his forehead to mine. “You are home, for me. You know that right?” he asked me quietly. I nodded.

“Of course, you’ve always been home for me,” I answered with a smile. It was beyond true. He had become home long before we defeated the blight. A light in that storm I called life. And since then he was this beacon leading me home.    
A while later we curled up around each other and fell asleep in the soft light of the fireplace.    
  
The next morning, Alistair brought me breakfast in bed. He sat with me and talked about nothing in particular, enjoying the quiet moment together before we headed out again. We quietly went about getting dressed, helping each other where we could. Silent acceptance is what it felt like. Like we had made it alright with our loving ministrations throughout the night, several times. No more mind-numbing fear. Just determination and absolute faith that we would beat this thing. We met Fiona downstairs with the rest of our men and set out for the keep. 

 

When we finally pulled our horses through the keep’s gates late the next day, we were all a little more than grumpy. Mine was due to another raging headache, and my vision going wonky. I wasn’t going to discuss  _ that _ part with Alistair until we were alone though.    
“Warden Commander!” Levi called out. I sighed. 

“I’m not the Commander any more, Levi,” I reminded him. He snorted. “You’ll be the only Commander I recognize, my lady. Sorry. That’s just how it is.”    
I waited for Alistair to come help me dismount, and kept a grip on his arm as we followed Levi into the keep. He and his family had done remarkable things with the place, it looked well lived in and clean and you would never know there had been hordes of undead and demons haunting the place for years.    
“Would you like to get settled in, or taken to Avernus first?” he asked. 

“Can we get a room to change and clean up first? Please? It was not the most pleasant of rides,” I asked.    
“Oh! Of course! I have the Commander’s chambers prepared for you all, and a chamber nearby for your mother, Ser.” Levi led us up the stairs and opened a door to a huge opulent room. I raised my eyebrow at him.    
“We keep this handy for any visiting Grey Wardens. None of us need such space, and technically the keep still belongs to you, my lady.”    
I sighed. “Thank you, Levi. Please see Fiona to her room as well and we’ll come find you in a bit.” He nodded eagerly and left the room, closing the door behind him. Alistair pulled out of my grip and started to move about the room, dropping our bags and taking off his cloak and gloves. I just stood there a minute and waited. When he finally noticed me unmoving, he came back and stopped in front of me.    
“What’s wrong?” he asked quietly.    
“I… can’t see very well. Like someone smudged the outer edges of my sight. It’s a bit disconcerting. To be honest.”    
He was close enough that I could see the stark fear on his lovely face. I reached up and smoothed my hand over his cheek. “I can see you now though,” I said, giving him a smile. He took a shaky breath and pressed his mouth to my palm. “It’s a good thing we’re here now,” he said quietly. I nodded. Not much more I could say as of yet. He helped me out of my cloak, pulled me over to the bed and sat me down.   
“How bad is it?” he asked.    
“Kind of like when you are losing consciousness from lack of air? The outer edges of your vision dim and become gray or black? Similar to that, except a bit more than just the edges. I can see clearly in the center of my vision, but not much of it. It’s hard to describe.” 

He took my hand and kept it. “Well, let’s go see Avernus. The sooner the better.” I nodded and we did just that.    
Alistair helped me through the keep, babbling incessantly about inane things just for the noise of it. When we got to the far tower where Avernus still lived, the door opened before Alistair even touched it. He looked at me and I just shrugged. I walked through the door, and immediately felt.. Heavier. The magic in the air was nearly thick enough to touch. 

“Ah! Warden Commander!” came the scratchy voice I remembered well. I had been here last year talking to him about what I was trying to do.    
“Nice to see you again, Avernus,” I said with a smile. I could see a rough outline of him up on the landing at the back of the room. I made my way across the room, and when I got to the stairs I felt Alistair’s hand gentle on my back.    
“How does this fine day find you, Commander?” he asked me, his old voice almost jovial. I gave him a wan smile.    
“It’s been better actually.”    
He immediately snapped to attention.    
“You feel it. Already. Don’t you?” he asked me, his voice almost fierce. I nodded.    
“Well, then this might be handy. I found.. I found a few Wardens who were close to their calling. One had been a warden for nearly 20 years. I told him what I was doing and asked me to use him to try the serum.”   
“And?” I asked, refusing to get hopeful. 

“It worked. For all intents and purposes, he was cured of the blight. As of now, there are no lasting side effects, though the first few weeks were sketchy. He was rather ill for a while. But, between myself and the strongest healers we could find, he pulled through.” 

“What about the second Warden?” I asked.    
“He refused. Said it was his duty to heed the calling. He bid us farewell and left on his last journey, he said.” I sighed. But..    
There it was. That tiny hopeful flame alighting in my chest. I squeezed Alistair’s hand.    
“There is one small hitch. We need blood.”   
My stomach plummeted. “From?” I asked, afraid of the answer.    
“Surprisingly enough, I have darkspawn blood. But we need some dragon blood. The older the better.”   
I swallowed.    
“Fiona.” I said. Alistair looked at me.    
“What about her, love?” he asked.    
“She.. she was with the Inquisition when they were hunting the dragons in Crestwood and so on. She could have access to some, or be able to get some quicky. Dagna was experimenting with it too.”    
He ran to the door and asked a footman to bring Fiona to us.    
A few minutes later, Fiona pushed through the door.    
“Well.. this is surprising,” she said, making her way across the room. She was wearing her usual mages robes, her long hair pulled back in a simple bun on the back of her head.    
“Who is this stunning creature?” Avernus nearly leered. I threw him a look and he shriveled under my gaze.    
“Not for you, old man.” I said it quietly but firmly. He nodded and rubbed a hand over his nearly bald head. The man looked 100 years old, easily. I sighed.    
“Fiona do you still have any of the dragon’s blood you were using in Skyhold?” I asked her.    
“In fact, I do. But not with me. I have an entire stash back at the College. What do you need it for?” she asked.    
Avernus spoke up before I could.    
“I have devised a cure, madam. For the blight! It has taken me well over a hundred years, and copious amounts of magical doings to accomplish, but, at the behest of our dearest Warden Commander,” and I flinched, “I changed my original research. I cured a man just 2 months ago! And from what I can tell, other than his hair whitening, he has had no lingering effects. The magic in the dragon’s blood, mixed with darkspawn blood and several other exceedingly rare ingredients I happen to have a vast amount of, I managed a cure!” 

Fiona paled. “Are you certain of this? Has it been tested more than once?” 

“No. Because I don’t have a wide assortment of Warden’s to choose from, my dear. Most of the Ferelden Wardens are still with the Inquisition. These two are the first I’ve seen in months besides the ones I saw a few months ago.”    
Fiona started to pace. “Tell me of this spell,” she said.    
“I’ll have you know, young lady,” Avernus sputtered, until the air around him grew thick with fog.    
Then it dissipated instantly. She rounded on him. “I was not the Grand Enchanter for nothing, Warden. I was also a Grey Warden once, and I will know what this spell is. So. Explain. It.” She enunciated every word with a sharp jab against his chest. He looked shocked.

“YOU were the Warden who was miraculously cured of the taint!?” he yelled. She nodded.    
“You two, leave. Immediately. This mage and I have work to do,” Avernus said. Alistair took my hand and led me from the tower.    
We went back to the main hall and Levi fed us an amazing meal. We didn’t hear much of anything out of the tower for 3 days.    
By the time Fiona emerged, she sounded as tired as I felt. I had hardly slept in those days. The pain becoming this ever present thing, and my eyesight was nearly gone. I sat in the library near an open window. I was curled up in the chair, covered in a blanket. Alistair was far more frightened at this point than I was. I was.. Mildly accepting. That whatever was supposed to happen would.    
I heard someone enter the library, felt a hand on my shoulder. Smelled Alistair a moment before he spoke. “Fiona came out,” he said quietly. I nodded, let him take my hand and lead me from the library. I typically kept my eyes closed when we were walking, otherwise it was too disconcerting. I felt the open air on the bridge leading to Avernus’s tower. When I heard the door in front of us open, Alistair bade me step up and into the tower and he did the same with the stairs leading up.    
“There you are, Commander!” Avernus said cheerfully. “We have fetched the dragon’s blood from the College and with some tweaking to the serum and spell, we should be able to right this mess. Are you up for this? Do you.. Want it still?” he asked me. Alistair gripped my hand.    
“I do. More than anything,” I said quietly.

“This isn’t going to be pleasant, my lady,” Avernus answered gently. I nodded.    
“You will be in serious pain, and you will fall ill, fevers and vomiting. Your body will essentially be rejecting the taint that has ridden it for all these years. Remaking itself. Fiona will perform healing on you as you progress through the revision of the blight. It’s going to be a painful process. One I expect that will be far less kind to you than the other man, as you are already in your calling.”   
I spoke, “I don’t care. Honestly. Give me the serum. Cast your spell. Please. Give me either a new beginning or a welcomed end,” I whispered the last. Alistair pulled me into his arms. I pressed my face against his chest.    
“You are not allowed to have an end, Naeleri,” he growled into my ear. I nodded.    
“I want tonight,” he surprised me by saying. I pulled back and tried to focus on his face, but I couldn’t see past the blur.    
“We will do the serum and spell in the morning. I want tonight,” he repeated. Avernus agreed.    
“Take tonight. Go do what young people do. Early tomorrow should be fine. Give mistress Fiona time to rest as well.”   
Alistair scooped me up and carried me from the tower, back through the keep and to our suite of rooms. He set me on the floor, “Don’t move,” he said. I waited while he locked the door and came back to me. His hands unbuttoned my shirt, pushed it from my shoulders, letting it fall to the floor. Then he was lifting my sleeveless undershirt over my head, and untying my pants to push them down my legs. After he had me naked, he lifted me onto the bed. I heard him taking off his own clothes, felt the bed dip when he laid down next to me.   
“This right here is forever, Nae,” he said quietly. I nodded, and just waited. He didn’t disappoint, soon his hands were on my body. Skimming over my skin, soft deliberate touches, taking my breath away in the best way he knew how. Soon his mouth was following his hands, on my neck, and my shoulder. My collarbone, over my heart. Trails of kisses and licks and nips that steadily fed that heat in my stomach. Every time I raised my hands touch him, he gently grabbed my wrists and put them up by my head.    
Ah, then his mouth was on my breast. Sucking my nipple deep into his mouth, making my stomach clench with need. He moved to my other breast licking and pulling my nipple between his lips, before moving his lips down my stomach. Kissed my hip. Hands on my thighs, gently spreading my legs. He kissed my inner thigh, sending a frisson of heat through my body. His fingers spread me, and I could feel the heat of his breath against my sensitive skin. His tongue lapped at me, curling around my clit, sucking it between his lips. I gasped and pressed to his mouth, already throbbing with need. He slid 2 fingers inside me, his mouth leaving me. His other hand replaced it, rubbing persistently at my clit. I gripped the bed, my hips raising on their own, silently begging for everything.    
He made this humming noise, pressing his lips to my trembling thigh. I started to whimper, his fingers driving me closer and closer. And.. bliss. I shuddered on the bed, whispering his name, body throbbing and pressing against him as I fell to pieces. His fingers drew out the orgasm, rubbing and thrusting, making my body arch on the bed, stealing my breath. “Ah, love. Your pleasure is so exquisite to watch.” He whispered the words, kissing my thigh again before pulling his hands from my body. He pressed a kiss to my stomach, and then his hands were on mine, pulling me up. He sat me up and moved to sit against the headboard. He turned me and settled me on his lap. “Mmmm, right where I want you,” he said, shifting his hips to rub his cock against my still throbbing arousal.    
I grasped his face with my hands. Rubbed my thumb over his lips. Pressed close and gently bit his bottom lip. I settled my mouth on his, and within seconds the kiss went from simple and sexy to mind melting and ravishing. Tongues, hot and wet, tangling. One of his hands rubbed across my hip, around to grip my butt. The other slid between us, and with a shift of my hips, his cock slowly pressed inside me. I moaned into his mouth, my body shaking against his. He held me still for a minute, still languidly kissing me, his cock pulsing hot inside me. I lifted my hips, then dropped them to take him again, deeper this time. His mouth left mine, pressing against my neck as we started to move. His hips lifting, meeting mine thrust for thrust. My head fell back, as my body reveled in the friction his pelvis created against mine. His hips moved faster, burying his cock deep inside me again and again. 

“Maker, pleeeease,” I whispered, my hands clutching at his shoulders. I fell backwards, my hands grabbing his legs. I kept moving, desperate for more of the delicious tension building. I gasped when his hands found my breasts, gripping and pulling, guiding one to his mouth to be sucked deep inside. I slowed my hips, grinding myself against him. His breath hitched, his body shuddered. His hand slid down my stomach, finding my clit between our bodies. Within seconds, I was crying out, as he pulled me back against his body, trembling.    
A few thrusts later, and he followed me, his entire body tensing as his orgasm shook him. Throbbing deep inside me, hands gripping my hips as he ground his against me. His head fell back and he took a very shaky breath. I pressed my face to his neck, my arms wrapping around him. Even in my relative darkness, he led me back to the light. Unerringly. 

He took a breath, pressing his lips to my head. “I’m keeping you all night, I hope you know that,” he said quietly, with a good deal of conviction. I nodded, I had figured as much. Sleep wouldn’t be a thing we needed tonight. I lifted my head, pressed my hand to his heart. It raced, as mine still did.    
“I need you to stay strong for me,” I said, keeping my eyes closed. He brought my hand to his face, pressing his lips to my palm.    
“I will try my hardest,” he started to say but I shook my head.    
“I know what’s going to happen. How the spell will work, the serum. It’s going to remake my insides, separate out the tainted parts of me and heal them. But it’s going to be exceedingly painful. And I am fairly certain you will be my only real anchor. Fergus is far away. And he has a life now that I would never tear him away from. You are mine. And I, I promise I am very yours. I need your faith and your love.”    
I felt a tear on my hand, much aware he felt the same way I did. “I can’t bear to see your pain,” he whispered.    
“I know. But in this, you need to be strong. So that when it’s your turn, I can hold you through it.”   
He took a ragged breath. “You couldn’t wait until morning to ask me this?” he said with a wry chuckle.    
I shook my head. “Right now, I’m about as close to you as I can get. If not now, then when?” I asked, shifting my hips. His voice came out rather strangled sounding, “Stop that.”    
“Stop,” I whispered, pressing my chest against his, drawing his face closer to mine, “what?” 

“Your.. you.. You’re distracting me,” he whispered.    
I smiled. “Just agree with me and I can finish distracting you better,” I said.    
“You know I will do whatever it takes to keep you here, Nae,” he said, tightening his arms around me. I nodded. I held his face again, pulling his lips back to mine. A gentle kiss, light. Dreamy almost. Light and testing. Until he pulled away, “I love you, you daft woman. And I am not letting you get away from me tomorrow,” he growled. Then I was on my back on the bed, and gone was the gentle patient lover, in his place was the man I had watched him grow into.    
He proceeded to show me then, how much he truly loved me. In various, excruciatingly beautiful and lusty ways.    
By the time the sun started to rise, we had rested maybe 2 hours out of the night. Though, to be perfectly honest, I had no regrets. I fell into a deep sleep, laying draped around him in the morning light.    
  
A few hours later, Alistair woke me. Helped me dress in a soft loose dress, and making me eat a decent breakfast. Fiona showed up a little later, to take me to a specially prepared chamber in Avernus’s tower. Alistair described it to me after insisting on carrying me the whole way there. A huge bed, with fresh linens, runes carved into the walls. Leather shackles on the bed for my ankles and wrists, to keep me from harming myself during the transition.    
“Alistair can stay with you the entire time if you wish, though at all times Avernus or myself will be here as well. This is going to be vastly unpleasant, my dear. Are you absolutely sure?” she asked me one last time, sitting next to me on the bed. I held out my hand, and she took it.    
“Fiona. I can’t see anything today. Not even faint light. I need to do this. Now. Or it will be too late. There won’t be any more of me left to.. Left to bring back.”    
Alistair made this.. Strangled sound. I closed my eyes and took a breath. “Please, Fiona. Give me this.” 

She sighed, “Of course. I just wanted to be certain. Alistair, can you fasten her to the bed? I will go get Avernus and the serum.”   
“Of course, mother,” he answered, absently. I noticed though, and heard the hitch in Fiona’s breath. It was the first time he had called her that.

Mother.    
It meant the world to her, that much I didn’t need my eyesight to see. She hurried from the room, and Alistair helped me get comfortable on the bed. Before he took my hands however, he laid next to me for a minute.    
“You will make it through this. You promised me forever. And this isn’t even close to it. I will be deeply angry if you try to abandon me now,” he said, smoothing a hand over my face. I put my hand over his.    
“We have plans, you and I. And I wouldn’t miss them for the world,” I replied with a smile. Then his lips were on mine, before his hands took mine and buckled them into the shackles.    
“You know, these look like they could come in handy,” he mused, trying to make light of a fairly ugly moment. I laughed.    
“You want me to strap you to a bed, I take it?” I sassed back.    
“Well.. now that you mention it..” he started to say. I laughed.    
“We can do whatever you want when this is done, I promise,” I said. His mouth was close to my ear when he spoke, “I’m holding you to that, In Love.. Forever, Nae,” he whispered. I nodded.    
“Forever,” I whispered back. Then the door opened with a squeak, and I heard the rustle of feet.

“Lift her head, please, Alistair,” Fiona said. His hand slid under my neck and lifted my head.    
“This is going to taste really awful, I’m sorry Naeleri.” 

I shrugged, well as best as I could being chained to the bed and all. She held the vial to my lips and upended it. Death. It TRULY tasted like thick, nasty, death. I shuddered, forcing myself to swallow the vile stuff, and it felt like it crawled down my throat. I laid there gasping after I finally got it down.    
“Alistair, you need to step away from the bed for a few moments.”    
I felt the bed shift as he got up. The bed sagged again on either side of me. Two hands touched my forehead, and two more on my stomach.    
“Once we start the spell, do not speak a word Alistair. You’ll know when we are done,” Avernus spoke up. I assumed Alistair nodded in the silence that followed.    
They began to chant then, strange words I didn’t recognize. But my body felt them. This.. zing of power that went from the top of my head and down into my feet. White light burst behind my eyelids, and pain. Pain unlike anything I had ever experienced. I screamed. I think. My body tried to buck against their hands, but they were surprisingly strong. They held me down and the magic felt like it worked into a frenzy, burning and cold at the same time, sparks of power arcing through my body. I felt my body lift off the bed, their hands still on my stomach and head, the power pulling me from the surface. My arms strained at the shackles, but they held me firm.    
It felt like every inch of my skin was on fire while the inside of me, where the core of  _ me _ is, was ice cold. My body slowly lowered back to the bed, and when the pain started again, their voices hushed, and Fiona rubbed a gentle hand over my my face, whispered a few words then..

I was gone.

 

The next few days flew by in a haze of glorious pain, desperation and begging for relief. Alistair never left my side, at least when I was conscious enough to notice. He held me when I needed to be held, listened to my ranting, rubbed me down with cool cloths and slept by my side to be near me. I spent the next few days after that nearly completely unconscious, which from what they said was a blessing. The fever the serum and their spell induced, caused my body to sweat out the tainted blood. Nearly 10 years of it. Apparently that was a lot. It was nearly black, thick, smelling of death and decay, it oozed from my body in a most disconcerting way. And Alistair was there, helping Fiona clean my skin, taking the foul smelling stuff away.    
About a week and a half after they gave me the serum, I finally slept like normal. They were able to remove the shackles, but I stayed in that bed, in the warded room. Alistair read to me when I was lucid enough to pay attention, kept me appraised of the goings on in the kingdom, the antics of Levi and his family in the keep. Anything to try and distract me from the never ceasing waves of pain. He’d hold me while I cried, and lay next to me when it hurt to be held.    
I don’t think I would have made it out the other end of the entire ordeal if it hadn’t been for him. He didn’t know I had heard all the nights where he stood at the window crying. It seared my soul in a way I don’t think I could ever really recover from.    
To be loved that deeply? That after all this time, all that we had been through, he could still cry over my pain. My eyesight had slowly been returning, and the first morning when I woke up and could see his sleeping face clearly in front of mine, I almost died of happiness. I had laid there crying, memorizing his beautiful face. When his eyes opened, he laid there staring at me, quiet. I reached out and ran my finger over his cheek. His eyes grew huge when he realized that I could see.    
“Are you in any pain?” he whispered. I was but not enough to stop me from jumping into his arms when he sat up. He crushed me against his chest, holding me as close as he possibly could. I pressed my face into his neck, my hands clutching at his shirt. I breathed in his scent, reveled in the fact that I felt so alive. Pained but alive. He held my shoulders and pushed me away, looking over every inch of me he could see. “Are you really feeling better?” he asked me, squinting at me. I nodded, “Better than I was, at least. Not fully, but I don’t want to die anymore, so there is that.”    
His lips pressed into a thin line for a moment, before pulling me back against his chest.    
“I never want to experience anything like that again,” he whispered harshly into my hair. I understood what he meant. 

“It wasn’t all that pleasant on my end either, you know,” I whispered back. I pulled away, putting my hands to his face, though even that felt like a chore to my abused body. I rubbed my thumb over his lips. “You are my hero,” I said, giving him the best smile I could muster. He shook his head, and kissed my forehead. I yawned. He laid back down and pulled me against his chest. I fell asleep in his arms seconds later.    
  
Over the next week or so, I was able to start eating regular food, and with a lot of help, start walking around the room and even taking trips to the garderobe. They brought me a huge bath tub and Alistair, with the help of Fiona, bathed me and when I finished, I felt nearly human again. Fiona braided my now untangled hair and informed us that maybe in a few days I would be able to go back to our old room. They talked and planned while I laid on the bed dozing amongst the blankets. We figured we would wait a few more weeks before having Alistair take the serum. I prayed fervently his wasn’t as bad as mine. 

 

Two days later, Alistair held my arm as I slowly walked back through the keep. I was wrapped in a blanket, but my head felt fairly clear and I wasn’t shaking with every step any more. I had insisted on walking. And looking at everything. By the time we got to our room, I was exhausted again. I asked Alistair to sit in the big stuffed chair by the fire. Then I curled up on his lap and we slept together by the fire for a bit. He woke me a while later, by carrying me to the bed. He laid me down and after taking off his clothes, he climbed into the bed with me and we fell asleep curled around each other like we used to.    
It took a little longer than I would have liked to regain my strength, and I grew increasingly frustrated at my lack of a mirror. They refused to let me have one. Said the shocking changes could wait until I felt better. It almost worried me, except Alistair wasn’t acting repulsed or anything. After another week, I was finally able to start to exercise my body, slowly, to strengthen it again. Being weak was never something I had been accustomed to and I hadn’t liked it even a little. Alistair helped where he could, and once they all felt I was well enough they brought me a mirror.    
When I looked, I nearly dropped it. I had a huge streak of white hair, along the left side of my head. Which explained why Fiona kept offering to braid it. But that wasn’t it. The purple tattoo my father had let me get when I was 18, it was gone. And my eyes.. Before they were clear and an aquamarine color, nearly a sparkling teal. Now? The outer edges were still teal, the inner around the iris was white. Same as my hair. I stared at my face. I had had that tattoo since before I had lost my parents. It was a beautiful and constant reminder of my father and his silly indulgence. I touched the skin where it had been, and it felt like normal skin. Warm and supple. My hand shook. It felt like the last reminder of my father was finally gone.    
Alistair wrapped his arms around me and held me when I started to cry. 

Fiona apologized to me, for she hadn’t known the spell would do that. I couldn’t even really blame her anyways, as she had no idea it would happen. In all honesty my hair and eyes didn’t matter, losing the tattoo made me more sad. I heard her left while I sat there sobbing into Alistair’s shoulder. Really though, it was everything. The entire stress of the last few weeks, a culmination of worry and terror and a strangely profound sense of loss. I cried myself into a hiccuping stupor, and a while later Alistair took me to bed and laid with me until I slept. When I woke in the middle of the night and tried to engage him in other things, he refused as I was still getting better and he didn’t want to hurt me.    
I left the bed and slept in the chair. Nothing like feeling.. Totally unwanted but still loved at the same time. Confusing and irritating. 

 

A few days later I decided I was done letting him treat me like I was broken. I was going stir crazy in the keep, and everyone kept tip toeing around me, and it was tiring. Fiona told me I seemed to be well enough to “continue marital relations” while blushing. It was cute.

I only knew, I needed my husband. My best friend.    
My everything.    
I made plans, copious plans. Supper in our room, no interruptions, and a new black satin nightgown delivered straight from Highever. When he came into our room to change for the meal, he went straight into the closet. I locked the door and hid the key. When he left the closet, holding a clean shirt in his hand, he gave me a raised eyebrow. “What are you doing?” he asked me with a slight smile.    
“We’re eating in here tonight,” I said. I wore a long robe over my nightgown, and my hand nervously played with the sash tied at my waist. He slipped his shirt on.    
“What are you playing at?” he asked me. I gestured at the table, laden with food. So much good food, and a bottle of the berry brandy he loved so much. “Eat with me?” I asked him quietly. He squinted and nodded, taking the chair near the fire. I sat across from him and we ate. Talked inane general things, and I plied him with the alcohol and even cheese. When he finally ate his fill, he leaned back in his chair and looked at me.    
“So what are you doing?” he asked.    
“You.. you need to stop.” I said it gently. Getting up and walking around the table to him. I sat on his lap and he tensed. I pulled his arms around me, and for once he didn’t pull away. “I am not broken, Alistair. I am healed. Whole.”   
He shook his head. I pressed my fingers to his mouth.    
“I am. Your mother and Avernus are sure. I’m sure. I cannot imagine what you went through, while I was sick and in the throes of the serum. I simply can’t. It had to be horrific and hard and heartbreaking. But. I came out the other side. I’m here. And I hurt. Every time you pull your hands away from me. When you pull me into your arms to sleep but refuse more. I need you back.” I whispered the last, pressing my forehead to his, closing my eyes.    
“What if I reinfect you?” he whispered, shocking me.    
“Thats.. Not possible. There have been Grey Warden’s married to non-Grey Wardens and no reports of their spouses being infected with the blight. Is that why you haven’t..?” I started to ask. He nodded. Closed his eyes and rubbed a hand over his face. 

“What if it happens though? Then all of this would have been for nothing!” 

I sighed. “They will have the next batch of the serum ready in a few days. I honestly don’t think you and I making love is going to hurt anything. I need to feel whole again. I’m not a fragile person, Alistair. I never have been, you know this. You know me better than anyone.”    
He reluctantly nodded.

I whispered, “Alistair. Please.”   
He sighed, and tightened his arms around me. “Are you sure..?” 

I nodded.    
“It is ridiculously difficult to tell you no. You realize that don’t you?”

I nodded again, smothering a smile. He scooped me up then, carried me to stand next to the bed. With no more words needed, he started to undress, dropping his clothes to the floor. I stood there and watched him, and as he bared more of himself to me, the lighter my heart got. This.. right here was what made us, well us. Loving one another, showing it this way, had often been a balm for us. When we were hurting, we turned to each other. And we comforted each other the best ways we knew how. Sometimes it was a cuddle, crying, but sometimes, it was just this simple.    
He walked over to me, untied the sash at my waist. Pushed the robe from my shoulders, letting it flutter to the floor. He grasped my face, pressed his forehead to mine. “I was beyond worried for you, and I honestly thought I had lost you so many times and I was near inconsolable. I need you far more than I ever thought possible,” he whispered, his eyes boring into mine. 

“You can’t get rid of me that easy,” I said, smiling up at him. Then he finally kissed me. And all was good and right. My mouth opened under his, beckoning him, teasing him. We stood there for minutes? Hours? Just leisurely kissing. Tongues and teeth and lips and breath, need building and coursing through us. Then his hands guided my arms around his neck, and he lifted me from the floor, wrapping my legs around his waist. He carried me to the closet door and pressed my back against the cool wood.    
I could feel his arousal against my leg, and with a wicked grin I reached between us to to grasp it. His eyes closed as I stroked his cock, his breathing far more ragged than my own. But his face, the look of pure pleasure there, his lip between his teeth, his fluttering eyelashes, the twitching muscle in his cheek. That face was the face I had missed, the one showing him lost in what I was giving to him. I pressed my mouth to his, breaking his trance. He sighed and fell into the kiss, his hands roaming my body, touching and teasing, wringing moans and sighs from me.    
I let go of him, and he guided his cock to my entrance, and with a swift thrust he filled me. Completely. Then he moved, his hands on my butt holding me still, his hips thrusting steadily. 

My head fell back against the door, my eyes closing as I lost myself in him. The sound of his breath, the smell of his skin. The feel of his skin rubbing against mine, his voice as he crooned my name without even realizing it. My hands fell from his shoulders, and I ran them down his chest. His heart was racing as hard as mine. His hand slid between us, and with deft fingers he found me, gently rubbing at my clit, making me tense against him. He hummed his appreciation for my writhing, and groaned when I started to spasm around his cock.    
I shuddered against him, my moan long and breathy. He ground his hips against me, digging his cock as deep as he could, before his own release tore through him. He trembled, his arms shaking, his cock hot and pulsing inside me. We stood there panting, as we slowly relaxed against each other. He slid to his knees onto the floor, keeping us locked together. He kissed me once. Then twice. Pressed his forehead to mine. “Was that to your, ahem, satisfaction?” he asked with a grin. I shook my head.    
“I will need to do that at least a few more times to make sure everything is working right,” I teased. He raised an eyebrow.    
“Few? How many is a ‘few’ Nae?” 

“Oh, at least 2. Maybe 3.”   
His eyes rolled up into his head. “You want to kill me, don’t you?” he growled at me. I chuckled softly.    
“I’ve dreamed for days about you, love. Touching me. Loving me. Making love to me. I missed you,” I said quietly. He sighed.    
“I know. I’m sorry,” he whispered. I shook my head again.    
“No sorry,” I stated. He looked at me. I grasped his face. “You thought it was the right thing. And if I were a normal person it might have been. But I’m not. So.. that’s that. Now.. my butt is getting cold.”   
He laughed and stood up, carrying me to the bed. A few minutes later, all cleaned up and snuggling under the blankets, I yawned and scooted as close as possible to his side. 

“Alistair?” I said into the darkness.    
“Hmm?”   
“In 4 or 5 days. The serum will be ready. Are you?” I asked.    
“I am. I’ve had a lot of time to think about it. Despite how terrifying it was to watch this happen to you, I want it to be done. We’ve given enough to Thedas.”    
I sighed. I had hoped he would say that. As I drifted off to sleep, his hand entwined with mine, I realized that in a month or two, we could be back at home living normal lives. And I fell into my dreams holding onto that. And to his hand. 

Over the course of the night, and into the next morning, Alistair woke me and made love to me at least 3 more times. Making up for lost time or something to that effect. By the time we fell into another exhausted sleep, my body felt loose, well satisfied and well loved. I fell asleep secure in the knowledge that he was still my home.    
  
  



	4. Only Your Perfection

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alistair undergoes the serum.  
> They take a trip and surprising things happen.

I found him sitting in the garden, even though it was bare this time of year. There was a chill in the air that hadn't been here a few weeks ago. He was staring off into nowhere, a serious look marring his handsomeness. I quietly walked up behind him, marveling that I couldn't feel his presence the same way I used to, but I was still acutely aware of him. I wrapped my arms around his shoulders, kissing his head before he looked up at me.

“Ah, you found me. Everything alright?” he asked with a smile. I nodded and he pulled me onto his lap. 

“Everything is on track. Your potion should be ready tomorrow or the next day. Are you alright?” I asked him. 

“Actually, I am. I've thought about this a lot. Losing this connection to something as grand as the Grey Wardens. But… They've lost their lustre for me. I, well honestly, I can't wait to be free. For us to start a life for us. Outside of worlds ending, and tragedies and misfortunes. I might miss some of it, but having a life with you? That makes it all worthwhile.” The resolve I heard there was heartwarming, and I grasped his face. 

“I love you, and I'm going to make sure you come out the other side of this intact and whole.” 

He chuckled. “Then I'll be right as rain with you watching out for me.” I laughed. Then he kissed me. Gentle and soft. 

“Forever?” he asked me quietly. I nodded.

 

**The next 2 days passed in a haze of love making, the laying of plans and long nights. When the time came, Alistair took the potion and thus began his own long process of curing himself. Over the next few weeks, and several close calls, Naeleri vigilantly stayed by his side, day and night. She diligently nursed him back to health, Fiona and Avernus impressed by his quicker recovery.**

**The only real lingering effects were a smattering of gray hair at his temples and he was a bit weaker for a bit longer than he would have liked. When he was finally really on the mend, they started making real plans.**

 

“Nae, I feel fine,” Alistair groused from the bench under the gazebo. It was a warm spring day, and he was enjoying his first real day outside. I knew he did, and maybe I was having a little bit of revenge for his own overzealous caretaking. 

“Love, you're still…,” I said, making him stick his tongue out at me. I laughed, which prompted a suspicious look. 

“You're …” he started to say, but I just shook my head. He held out his hand and I reluctantly took it. He yanked me into his lap, making me squeal with surprise. His arms wrapped around me, keeping me still. His mouth met my ear, “You play a mean game, wench,” he murmured softly. I shivered. “Fiona said you're fine for the most part. The weakness should dissipate as you exercise and get your body back to fighting shape.” I coughed. “Though you feel pretty strong right now,” I muttered. He chuckled. 

“Maybe I'm feeling fine as well. Finer than even a few days ago.”

I held my breath. “How fine might that be?” I whispered, trying to shift on his lap to look at him, but his arms made me pretty immobile, causing my hips to move but shoulders to not. His sharp intake of breath was refreshing. And it made me glad that  _ that _ part of him was still there. I could feel his heart slow against my back. 

I took his hands and released myself, turning to face him, my mouth near his with how we were sitting. “Are you fine enough..” I said, brushing my fingers through his new gray hairs. I found them rather sexy, it added a wisdom to his already devastatingly handsome face.. “Are you fine enough to show me?” I asked him quietly, my eyes searching his. The slow smile that broke over his face was stunning. 

“More than,” he whispered, kissing me gently. His face changed, “Should.. Should we? Is it too soon?” he asked. 

“I've begun taking preventative herbs, given to me by Fiona. We should wait a few months, and she..” I started to blush, “she knows that we are ‘young and virile’,” I said. His face turned to speculation, lips pursed. Then before I could say anything else, he was standing with me in his arms and marching back inside the keep. I held on but even now, he didn't feel weak in the slightest. And the determination on his face?

Made me weak instead. 

 

He barreled through our door, kicking it shut behind him. “Lock it, will you?” he asked. I complied and he carried me to the bed. He laid me there and without even pausing he climbed onto the bed next to me.

His hands untied the jacket I had been wearing, pulled open the front.

“When I was laying here that first night, after I drank. I was in and out with the fever,” he said softly, his hands pulling me up to remove the jacket. “I kept thinking we were back during the blight, young and fresh.”

His hands untucked my shirt, spreading on my stomach. I shivered at his touch. “I dreamed about that night, in Redcliffe. When you convinced me to help Morrigan.” He leaned down and kissed my jaw, then my neck. “The next few days, before the big battle, I couldn't even stay mad at you. You did your best to seduce me back into your arms.” I shivered, his mouth pressing to my chest above my shirt. “You weedled your way back into my heart, though to be frank, you never left it,” he whispered, his hands moving to unbutton my shirt. 

“I tried praying for resolve to deny you. You had hurt me. Not a lot, but enough to wound my pride, what little I had back then.” His hands stopped half way down my shirt, his face hovering above mine. “But you, and your persistent touching and soft laughter, finding you naked in our bed every time I turned around,” he smiled then, “you wore me down and showed me that you loved me. At least 4 times that night,” he murmured. His face lowered to my stomach as he opened my shirt the rest of the way. “Aah, you were lovely. Untamed. Your hands as persistent as your amazingly gorgeous mouth,” he kissed the hot skin between my breasts, his fingers trailing up my sides. 

“Laying here, delirious, I loved you so fiercely and told the Maker if he let me come back to you, I would show you every day how happy you still make me,” his breath fluttered across my breast, before he nuzzled it. Then his mouth enveloped it, tongue and teeth stealing my breath. He sucked it deep, the pressure making my stomach clench. When he pulled his mouth away, goosebumps raced down my body. His forehead rested on my chest. 

“I will never forget your screams,” he said, surprising me. 

“When you ran to me after you killed the Archdemon. I was barely conscious, that axe still embedded in my shoulder, your hands trying to wake me up. I knew then that I was keeping you.” He looked up at me. His eyes were bright. “Thank you for loving me,” he whispered. I cradled his face, “You never have to thank me for doing the easiest thing in my life. You.. Made me whole in a way nothing else ever has,” I replied, gifting him a smile. He smiled and I pulled his face up to mine. I took his lips as his body settled on mine. 

I sighed into his mouth, my tongue teasing his. He pressed close, his hips settling between my legs. Heavy breaths, hands gripping. The kiss turning desperate, my hands struggling with his shirt, the need to feel him against me overriding every sense in my head. He pulled away, kneeling between my legs. He pulled his shirt off over his head, his hands moving to his pants. Soon as he was naked, he pulled mine from me. 

His appreciative hum as he knelt there looking down at me made me feel far more beautiful than I usually did. His eyes raked over me, as mine did the same. Ah the man was beautiful. Even after being so ill from the serum, he still looked lean and healthy. Scars just added to the story of him.

Of us.

Then he was laying on top of me again, his hands grasping mine and pulling them above our heads.

“You'll never really know how much you mean to me,” he said softly, shifting his hips and rubbing his arousal over my own. My eyes closed, my breath stopped. I trembled when he did it a second time. Then a third dragged a moan from my mouth. 

The fourth ended with him thrusting his hips, entering me ever so slowly. 

“Forever,” he whispered against my lips, before he kissed me. Kissed me thoroughly, drowning me in sensation. His body heavy on mine. Our hands entwined. His hips thrusting, our hearts racing. And so we stayed that way, moving, writhing. Loving and giving. This perfect slow build, pressure and shivers. 

Brilliant and beautiful, my soul in his very hands. 

He drove us relentlessly, guiding with his mouth, his hands, his body. And when he finally tossed us over the cliff, together we fell. Straight into bliss. His voice joining mine, rough and raspy, my cry smothered against his lips. 

Trembling.

Pulsing.

My body clenching at his.

His hips digging into mine.

Breaths ragged.

Ears ringing.

He slowly relaxed on top of me, his forehead on mine. 

“Never change,” he whispered. I nodded, barely. “Same goes for you. You're mine. Forever.”

He nodded this time. 

 

**Over the next few weeks they went about sending out messengers to the Inquisition, to Weisshaupt, Denerim and more. We had found the cure for the Greg Warden taint. And those strong enough could benefit if they so wanted. Levi and his family went about making the rest of the keep liveable for anyone who would be coming to partake. Fiona and Avernus set to making as many of the series as they could, and the College was sending more mages to help with that. Leliana sent me messages inviting us to Val Royeaux.  We made the arrangements, and left within the week.**

 

**5 Days Later -**

 

Alistair stood next to the bed, slowly undressing and yawning with every other breath. We would arrive in Val Royeaux tomorrow evening, and had ridden hard to make such decent time. I was excited to see Leliana again, even if she was now the Divine and setting the Chantry on its ears. I climbed into the bed naked, drifting off even as he curled up against my back with a sigh. 

“Nae?” he murmured. 

“Hmmm?” I mumbled.

“I love you,” he replied. I smiled, even in my near sleep. 

“I love you more. Forever,” I said into the dark. 

He squeezed me and we promptly fell asleep. 

 

The next morning, I awoke to an empty room. I laid there for a minute, worrying. We weren't the same as a few months ago. Our reflexes a little slower, not quite as strong. We also hadn't heard back from Weisshaupt. 

The door opened then, and Alistair carried a tray of delicious smelling food. “Good morning, my love!” he declared happily. I sat up and raised an eyebrow. 

“What has made you so chipper?” I asked while I stretched. He whistled softly. “Lovely as always,” he said quietly. 

I snorted.

He squinted.

I grabbed the blanket and climbed off the bed. I walked over to him and he pulled me into his arms. I sighed against his shirt. “You're lovely too,” I said. He laughed nervously. I looked up to find him blushing. I laughed softly. His scowl made me laugh harder. He kissed my nose and led me to a chair.

We sat and ate breakfast, and after dressing for the day we headed out on the last leg of our journey. As we rode, we talked of everything. All those dreams we had put on hold for the Wardens. Hopes we had dared not hope for. We entered a dense patch of forest on the coast of Orlais. Within a half hour or so, the wildlife around us was quieting. I held out my hand to Alistair, and he stopped his horse.

“Something is in the woods,” I said quietly, looking about. He raised an eyebrow.

“Shall we make a run for it?” he suggested. I nodded. It wasn't far to the city outskirts and I had a bad feeling. He took off with a yell, and I spurred my horse to do the same. She flew after Alistair and his horse, faster than I knew she could move. I don't know if she felt my increasing urgency but she just moved like the wind. We pulled into the town a few minutes later, the horses winded but not an worse for the wear. We went to one of the stables outside the main gates and paid the man there to look after the horses and walked into the city on foot.

I still felt uneasy. Alistair waved off my suspicions. “You're still getting used to being a normal human again, Nae. We're fine,” he insisted time and again. 

When we walked through the Chantry doors, I felt a little better but not it much. One of the lay sisters greeted us and when I asked to see the Divine she nearly laughed at me.

“She's expecting me, young lady,” I said wearily. The sister had the temerity to raise her eyebrows at me. 

“You can't just demand to see the Divine,” she scoffed. 

I growled. Alistair stepped in front of me, “Here. Her personally invitation to my wife and I,” he said, handing her my letter. She quickly read it and with a mild eye roll, left us standing there in the rectory. 

Alistair turned and put his hands on my shoulders. “You need a nap,” he suggested with a small smile. I just looked up at him. 

“I need you to listen to me,” I said under my breath. 

“What was that?” he asked. I poked his chest and he laughed. 

“Nae!” I heard from behind me. I turned and there she was, wearing her white and red robes, delight on her barely aged face. Before I could even respond, she was rushing across the room and into my arms. 

I couldn't have told you when I start to cry, or when she did. But we were crying and laughing and hugging and poor Alistair stood there awkwardly waving everyone away like the amazing man he was. Leliana led us from the hall, to her personal apartments. Simply furnished, they reflected her new somber attitude. 

“Oh, I'm so glad you came!” she said for the 10th time. She offered me some wine and I shook my head. 

“So did it work?” she asked as we sat down at her little table. I nodded.

“We're both blight free. It was touch and go for a while, and I was a bit worse off than we would have liked,” I hedged. Alistair snorted.

“Nae. You were effectively blind and weak. Don't make light of how close it was,” he said sharply. I sighed. Leliana reached out and took my hand. 

“The calling?” she asked. I nodded.

“Why didn't you tell me?”

“Because it was very fast, and by the time news would have gotten to you, I would be well or dead.”

“You had to be scared,” she said quietly. 

“Oh I was. Alistair was, quite possibly, the best anchor I could have had.” 

He put his hand on my knee. “You were the same. Don't sell yourself short,” he teased with a smile. 

“Pah you two are still disgustingly mushy aren't you?” Leliana asked with a laugh. 

“What? Mushy? What is this mushy you speak of, wench?” Alistair scoffed. 

I just laughed. And it felt good to laugh. We talked for hours, before she had to go take care of the evening services. Alistair and I left the chantry and went to find a room. We eventually found one in a little inn outside town, and after dropping our things there, we went to find supper. After we ate a delicious meal, we walked about town, marveling at our new found freedom. We slept deep that night, talking late into the night about our plans again and again. 

The next morning, he woke me with coffee and baked goodies from one of the bakeries in the city. We went and visited with Leliana again, her promising to visit us once we went home. We decided to get Fiona something from the little magic shop in the upper corridor of the city, which I admit now, was not the wisest of plans. When we left the store, there were 5 Grey Wardens waiting for us outside.

“Warden Commander.” 

I sighed. “I'm no longer the Commander, boys.”

“Ah, Weisshaupt disagrees. You've been summoned.” 

I raised an eyebrow. “I'm not going to Weisshaupt. End of discussion.”

“Nay, the High Constable and First Wardens are here. In Val Royeaux.”

I felt a cold fist grip my chest. “Alright. Lead the way,” I said. Alistair tried to hush me but I gestured for him to come with me and fell in silently behind the first two wardens. Their 3 comrades took up the flank. We walked through a few back alleys to a lone door in the side of a warehouse. 

“Well this looks promising,” Alistair muttered. I coughed to hide my chuckle.

We walked through the doors, and indeed, the High Constable and First Wardens were sitting at a large table in the center of the massive cavernous room. 

“Ah, Warden Commander,” the Constable greeted. I crossed my arms over my chest.

“Why am I here?” 

No small talk for me. 

“Ah. Is it true?”

I walked to the table. “Does it feel true?” I asked quietly. He closed his wrinkled eyes. The sadness in them when he opened them was surprising. 

“It is,” he said frowning at the First. I took a breath. 

“It came at a great cost. I was already feeling my Calling.”

The Constable looked surprised.

“You're so young, how could that be?”

“I… I delivered the final blow on the Archdemon. And while I didn't die, I was still affected by the energy dispersal when it perished. None other than dead Darkspawn were close enough to feel the effects I did.”

The two older men exchanged looks. “This is unprecedented. First you survive an Archdemon. Then you survive your calling and cure the blight?”

I placed my hands on the table and looked at both of them. “I gave you people everything. And I asked for nothing. I served. With dignity and loyalty. Even during the scandals that arose from Erimond and his treachery. I served. I nearly lost my husband to that damn magister YOU people imprisoned so fucking poorly.”

The Constable sat and put his face between his hands. “There is literally no code for this. Beyond Fiona, you are the first,” he said before Alistair interrupted, “And second.” The Constable glared at him.

“As I was saying, the first to be cured.”

“It was no easy task. And one I would not recommend to every warden. It hurt beyond imagining. It took a great deal of patience and work of two very highly skilled mages, and over a hundred years of research to make it happen. It required magicks we have forgotten, and the use of dragon’s blood.”

The First sat with his fingers steepled in front of his face. 

I stood back up and took a breath. “This is something you can keep mostly quiet, offer it to veteran Wardens on the edge of their calling. If you don’t want the convicts to have access, don’t give it to them. But we will not ignore this. Wardens are not always needed, and if there is a way to give good hard working, loyal people their lives back, why not take it?”

“Because they might not fight their hardest if there is an easy cushy way out of this!” the Constable yelled at me. I looked at him. 

“Do you think it was easy? What on earth do YOU know? When was the last time you actually fought a darkspawn, High Constable? How about an Archdemon? Or the Architect? Or a broodmother? WHEN?!” I seethed. I walked towards him, “You know NOTHING of hard! I stood there in a derelict keep that had been overrun by darkspawn with 5 - YES FIVE - LIVING WARDENS against another Horde of darkspawn! Where the fuck were you?! SItting in your cushy office? Drinking tea?”

The man shook as he backed away from me. “I didn’t..” he started to say but I held up my dagger.    
“See this dagger?” I asked very quietly. He nodded.    
“It’s killed hundreds upon hundreds of darkspawn. I can still feel the taint in the metal, in the grooves of the handle that has bathed in their blood.” I threw it at the door and it impaled the star at the center of the top panel.    
“I’ve given you people everything. Including your freedom and your lives. I’ve saved the world in countless ways, just like the Inquisitor and even the Champion. This? This is mine. Freedom. The chance to live instead of just surviving. You sit up on your lofty hill in your stodgy keep, presiding over a faction of people who are not just faceless pawns on a map. They are people, with dreams and wants. Sometimes, a person needs to be able to be a person.”

The Constable moved to speak but the First shushed him with a mere hand gesture. He stood up and walked around the table. 

His white hair was pulled back in a severe ponytail. His brown eyes were tired. “You're right. Too long have we ruled with our iron fists from afar. And I think our absence is what led to the events at Adamant.” He shook his head, sighing. “This cure. It is dangerous isn't it?” he asked me. 

“It is. But is our life not already a danger? Can.. Can you think about it? Really? Some of us deserve this life, having done deplorable things and this life could even be a blessing compared to alternatives. But some of us, we were forced into it by circumstances beyond our control. And we've given every loyalty to the order, even when we faced certain death.”

He stood in front of me. “Look at me,” he said quietly. I did, staring up into his weathered face.    
“You’re right. What would you have us do?” he asked. I almost cried. I had feared we would be punished, though to be honest I’d have fought tooth and nail to be free.    
“Offer the cure to seasoned Wardens. Ones far into their time, ones who have proven loyal time and again. Give them a retirement to remember, one that isn’t an anonymous painful death at the hands of the very things we are meant to protect from.”   
“Some prefer doing into the deep roads,” he reminded. I nodded.    
“No one is saying stop them if that is what they wish. But if they wish out? To try and make a family, or go back to one they left behind?”

He considered, a calloused finger tapping against his lips. “That is doable. Where are you doing this?”    
I suppressed a grin.    
“I may have had Soldier’s Peak restored. And kept a mage in residence that researched this for me. With me more or less. Really. With the help of.. Of my mother in law.”   
“Oh? And who is that?” 

“Fiona,” I muttered. The mans eyes widened. 

“She lives?” he asked. I nodded.    
“And more. Thanks to the Inquisitor. Now, make your plans and tell who you will tell. The Peak is ready for residents. The family I have taking care of it are at your disposal. Your kind disposal. Do not abuse this gift, I do not give it lightly,” I said quietly. He raised a gray eyebrow.    
“You?” 

“Aye. Me. Levi Dryden tried to get help from the wardens, and Duncan was the only one who was going to help him. Duncan died, Alistair and I were the only ones left. We helped him. Then Denerim happened, and the Queen dubbed me the Hero of Ferelden. The Drydens, though I had given them run of the keep, offered it to me. And I accepted. Then the Queen gave me Amaranthine. Which I never wanted, and deeded back to Nathaniel Howe and his family. Not that it does much good so long as he is a warden, but it’s in good hands. But Soldier’s Peak is mine. There is an old mage living there, one who is invaluable. Do not make the mistake that I am giving this freely. The keep is mine. As is the cure. So long as this gift isn’t abused, then I will leave things in your hands. I’m not a kind enemy, Ser,” I said softly, looking him in the eye. He squinted.    
“I didn’t survive a horde, an archdemon, an ancient magister turned darkspawn, his monstrous broodmother and countless trips into the deep roads to have a bunch of men take from me what I have more than earned.”   
Alistair coughed. “Nae,” he said and I held up my hand.    
“I am the Hero of Ferelden. Not a title I ever wanted. But I wear it, because the world needed it. I saved the world twice. Twice. I’ve lost countless friends, and haven’t had a real home since before my parents died. Soldier’s Peak is mine. And by rights, Alistair’s since he is also mine,” I said with a slight smile. He grinned at me, tucking his hands into his pockets.    
“Ah, you caught yourself a feisty one, Alistair Theirin,” the First muttered. Alistair shrugged. “But look at how she shines,” he said with a wink. I just shook my head and he smiled again.    
“Don’t mistake this gift as weakness,” I warned, walking to the door and retrieving my dagger. The Constable stared at me.    
“You have no right..” he started to say. Alistair stepped towards him but the First surprised us all.    
“Stop that, she is right. When was the last time you faced a darkspawn?” he said, a wry chuckle following.    
The Constable glared at him.    
“This should be up to the council,” he said.    
“Fuck the council,” I said. Alistair stared at me. The First laughed. A full on, rolling laugh.    
“Oh, I like you. You retain your keep. And your cure. I will send the Constable home and visit the keep myself. This will be done right.” He held out his hand, and I embraced his arm with my own hand, his returning the favor.    
“Thank you,” I said, feeling a blush creep up my chest. He leaned close, “It’s been an honor, Hero.”   
I swallowed. “Thank you,” I said softly. He nodded and raised his fist to his chest.    
I did the same. The First hustled everyone else out of the room and when Alistair was alone with me, he whistled and slumped into a chair.    
“Fuck the council? Really Nae?!” he declared. I shrugged.    
“The council is why things got so stupid in the first place,” I muttered, straightening out my jacket and sheathing my dagger. He rolled his eyes skyward.    
“You will be the death of me,” he said with a dramatic sigh.    
“I might just be,” I agreed with an eyebrow wiggle. He raised an eyebrow back at me. “You think?” he mused. I nodded. I held out my hand, intent on pulling him to his feet, though he seemed to have other plans when he pulled me onto his lap. 

“I was a bit scared,” he said into my hair. I nodded. “So was I. Bravado can carry one a long way,” I replied. He took a breath. “Let’s go say goodbye to Leliana and go home.”   
  


**4 Months Later -**

 

I laid on a blanket on the grass, under a giant fluffy tree. I could hear Alistair wrestling with Pupp, happy yips filling the air. We had been home a couple of months, back in our little keep that the queen had given us some time ago. We had a few staff members, but nothing opulent or extravagant. I sighed when I heard Alistair pretend to die, this gurgling sound mixing with silly whimpers from the dog. I pushed up on my elbows and eyed them. Pupp laid across Alistair’s stomach, his tongue hanging out of his mouth. I just laughed at them.    
We were home and things couldn’t be much better. Already, Fiona had sent reports of a few more successes with the serum, cured Wardens. One had succumbed to the calling and the serum was too much. Fiona also told me to stop taking the preventative herbs. To let my body do its thing, and hope for the best. And thus, 2 weeks ago I had stopped. 

This morning, I had been nauseous for a few minutes when I was waking up. It had passed too quickly to be sure, but I was hopeful. I was beyond hopeful. They came over and crowded onto my blanket, a dog on one side of me, and a man on the other. 

“What are you thinking of over here, so seriously?” Alistair asked me as he snuggled close. I shrugged.    
“Everything?” I suggested. A rustling came from some nearby brush, and Pupp abandoned us for fluffier prey, streaking off into the field. 

“Are you alright?” Alistair asked me. I nodded.    
“You know.. You left the bed so early this morning, I didn’t get to greet you properly,” I teased, pushing him onto his back. He tucked a hand behind his head, watching me as I moved to straddle his waist. I was wearing a simple sundress, perfect for a sunny day. Totally impractical, but honestly, who cared?   
I entwined my fingers with his, leaning down to kiss him. “Good morning,” I murmured against his lips. “Nay, a perfect morning,” he replied, eyes on mine. I nodded and before I could move, he had managed to roll us, pressing me into the blanket. 

“Oh, really now?” I teased. He chuckled, pressing his hips close. His eyes darkened, his smile a little less carefree.    
“I don’t think I’ve had my way with you out here before..” he mused, gaze falling to my lips. 

“Here?” I asked, my heart already slowing in my chest. He sat up, kneeling between my legs. He pulled his shirt off over his head, before leaning forward and unbuttoning my dress. His eyes nearly crossed when he realized I was naked beneath it.    
“Really, Nae?” 

I just laughed. “Maybe I planned to seduce you out here, love. Under the sun, just you and I,” I teased. He pressed a kiss to my stomach. 

“Incorrigible. Perfectly incorrigible. I love it,” he said softly. I could only nod, holding my hand out. He stretched out on top of me again, his lips finding mine in the sunlight, his heart beating in time with mine. And there, without a care but each other, we made love. Lips and sighs, hands gripping, bodies tumbling about in the throes of need that never really diminished. What started slow and easy, soon became frenzied and bright, his body taking mine ever higher. Fingers on my clit, cock buried deep, mouth trembling against mine. Voice hoarse as he cried out, mingling with my own. Pulsing and hot, wet and sated.   
His weight settled on me, his breath ragged as he chuckled. “This new life has its perks, doesn’t it?” he mused, pressing a quick kiss to my nose before rolling off of me. I turned onto my side, facing him. His eyes were closed and he looked truly happy.    
“Stop staring,” he muttered.    
“I can’t help it. You are a glorious sight, all flushed and tousled. That little bit of gray in your hair, and your smile. You are a sight, indeed,” I teased. He flushed for real, face going a ruddy red before he opened his eye and tried to glare at me.   
“Stop that,” he said. I shook my head with a grin.    
He turned onto his own side, facing me. He traced a finger over my breast. Smiled when my nipple reacted to his touch. “And you said I was the sight. Have you seen you?” I just shook my head again.    
“Good. I don’t want you leaving me for you.”   
I laughed. He grinned and pulled me close for another kiss.    
Pupp came racing up and barreled into Alistair, knocking him into me. Pupp leaned over Alistair’s shoulder to lick at my shoulder, gleefully greeting me. Alistair tried to push him away and Pupp just licked all over his ear for his troubles.    
  
This? This was perfection. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There will likely only be a few more chapters until we get more DA4 news to see what our Hero's are up to.


End file.
